driving (was: To Chris, Joni and

[Guest guest]

> Thanks for your support for the most recent worrisome episode at

the Joye household. The son who has been doing the " Stunt Man "

driving happens to be in NYC with some friends, which is good, as it

is giving the rest of us some time to cool off before he is made

aware that we are on to his tricks! His younger brother will not be

getting into the car with him and neither I nor the younger kids have

ever gotten into a car that he was driving. I sure do hope that when

Tommy gets to this age, that the caution in some circumstances that

OCD sends his way will help him with the all too prominent

impulsivity that his AD/HD affords him. We still have 7 more years

to go to get ready! You are all right that this is a scary time to

have a kid in the armed forces, but as of now I think he needs to be

somewhere that he will learn to value others over his own impulses.

As much as I don't want him to be hurt or killed, I would feel that

much worse if his actions caused injury or death to someone who was

innocent.

*** , my son (18, ADHD 'wild man' + mild OCD) is the BEST

driver!!! It's been my " normal " son, (20) that's had all the

mishaps. So, I really agree with you about that sense of *caution*

that OCD can inflict on a person. Yet, no one, and I mean NO ONE

could have convinced me that would turn out to be a

responsible and cautious driver when he was 7, 8, 9, 10++ years old!

This was the kid that would impulsively ride his bike down the

driveway and would NOT look for oncoming traffic. He'd dart back and

forth on the road and never look to see if a car was in front of him,

or behind him. I took him to a mall a couple of times when he was 8

or 9 years old, and I swore that would be the LAST time. He'd hide

and runaway, run wild all over the mall, crash into people and laugh,

drop things from the second level hoping to hit someone on the head

with a penny, knock down wracks of clothing or stacks of merchandise

on purpose.... etc etc... He DEFINED the word 'wreckless' and when

he took drivers ed several years later, I held my breath and prayed.

I also decided to look into the possibility of hospitalization for

*myself* as I knew I would most certainly have a major nervous

breakdown by the time THIS ONE got behind the wheel.

Lo and behold, he graduated from drivers ed and did NOT want to

drive. He got his license and still wasn't too thrilled with the

whole idea of driving (it scared him.. or, errrr... he scared

*himself*) The day he finally pulled out of the driveway, it was

a totally DIFFERENT kid behind that wheel and the little boy that

would crash into parked cars was gone.

*whew*

OCD kicked in IN THE KNICK OF TIME!!! And, will tell you

that it IS his mild OCD that keeps him alert and fearful behind the

wheel. So there you have it. OCD can be a blessing!

Joni