My first post

[Guest guest]

Ok. This is my first post, and I just really started admitting (to

myself) that my son (7) might need some help other than I can give.

I keep thinking " Oh he'll grow out of it " , but his compulsions are

starting to effect our family life. When we go shopping I have to

put him in the cart (which he thinks is really humiliating) because

his compulsions involve stepping on mine and other's feet - twice.

He must touch everything twice and have both feet land on the floor

at the same time after crossing every threashold. These days it

takes us forever to get anywhere.

At first I thought it was just normal for kids. I thought it was an

extension of don't step on a crack or break your mother's back sort

of thing. However, he has told me that he doesn't want to do these

things, but if he doesn't his brain hurts. I've never once described

OCD to him, but that's a pretty good description in my book. I guess

I should be thankful that he only has to do things twice and not

more.

So my question is...can children outgrow these compulsions? Should I

just wait it out? Right now we homeschool so a lot of his

compulsions are pretty mild. School brought them out so much worse.

I have been telling him that it's brought on by stress and that as

he gets older he'll get better at managing it. I don't want to make

a big deal out of it or I feel like he'll worry about it more than

he already does.

Thanks for your time, any advice would be appreciated.

JSummers