How to handle meds on school trip

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

I didn’t write what you are responding to, and I don’t think that taking medication or needing reminders to do so are indications that your child isn’t ready.

But your question is bizarre. Diabetes is a life threatening condition that requires very close monitoring. Very few kids with T1D are ready for overnights without a trained adult at 11.

It is bizarre how often posters here have this weird idea that kids with more significant disabilities than their child’s somehow don’t experience hardship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

I didn’t write what you are responding to, and I don’t think that taking medication or needing reminders to do so are indications that your child isn’t ready.

But your question is bizarre. Diabetes is a life threatening condition that requires very close monitoring. Very few kids with T1D are ready for overnights without a trained adult at 11.

It is bizarre how often posters here have this weird idea that kids with more significant disabilities than their child’s somehow don’t experience hardship.

Sorry if it came across that way. My intention was not at all to compare hardships at all. I was only wondering if they feel all children who need support to take medication should stay home from trips like this. A genuine question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven't had an overnight with school but my 11 year old has had all day trips and we coordinated meds with the school. We had to fill out a particular form and then they made the chaperone responsible to remind him but he carried it himself.

For over night sleepovers I tell the hosting parents about the medicine schedule. But I tell my son to be responsible to remember to take it. He carries a pill box with am and pm sides.

He doesn't have a phone and not sure that he would be ready for it next year. These "text him" responses are making me cringe a bit. Many adhd kids cant handle phones. And this is a 6th or 7th grader, Im not sure all nuerotypical kids can either. Dont love that solution.

OP here (again). 100% agree with this. I'm a huge supporter of Jonathon Haidt and the Anxious Generation. He is not ready for a smart phone and does not have one. Neither do most of his friends.

I do think setting alarms on his watch may help. But I've learned the school policy is he will not have the medication himself. As I suspected, he's not the first student with this issue, and there is a plan in place.

Thanks again all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

I would say the same about a child with diabetes if they weren’t capable of doing any of their own care or management. But for an 11 year old with diabetes, that isn’t an option. They will know how to check their glucose levels and what to do if they are low and alarms will ring to remind them to act. At middle age, you should be the back up plan and working on him taking a role in his own health and management.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

I would say the same about a child with diabetes if they weren’t capable of doing any of their own care or management. But for an 11 year old with diabetes, that isn’t an option. They will know how to check their glucose levels and what to do if they are low and alarms will ring to remind them to act. At middle age, you should be the back up plan and working on him taking a role in his own health and management.

ADHD medication is a controlled substance that can be abused, and not recommended to be in the hands of impulsive and forgetful children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven't had an overnight with school but my 11 year old has had all day trips and we coordinated meds with the school. We had to fill out a particular form and then they made the chaperone responsible to remind him but he carried it himself.

For over night sleepovers I tell the hosting parents about the medicine schedule. But I tell my son to be responsible to remember to take it. He carries a pill box with am and pm sides.

He doesn't have a phone and not sure that he would be ready for it next year. These "text him" responses are making me cringe a bit. Many adhd kids cant handle phones. And this is a 6th or 7th grader, Im not sure all nuerotypical kids can either. Dont love that solution.

When a child has a condition that requires timed medication and there is technology that can help them manage their health, I have no issue with it. Kids with diabetes start using tech at a very young age to manage their health. Kids with adhd can also use tech like watches and alarms and text messages to help them manage their own health. I think the view that an 11 or 12 year old is too hound to be involved in any way in their own health or manage if their health is more about a parents issues than that their 11 or 12 year old is actually so incompetent that they aren’t capable of being involved at all in their own health and management. In those cases, they shouldn’t be on the trip without a parent chaperone if their condition is so severe that the child would be unable to understand an alarm or a text or what their medication is or why they take it. Tech is not the enemy and it plays an important role in health management and in supporting agency and involving kids in their own care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

I would say the same about a child with diabetes if they weren’t capable of doing any of their own care or management. But for an 11 year old with diabetes, that isn’t an option. They will know how to check their glucose levels and what to do if they are low and alarms will ring to remind them to act. At middle age, you should be the back up plan and working on him taking a role in his own health and management.

ADHD medication is a controlled substance that can be abused, and not recommended to be in the hands of impulsive and forgetful children.

Insulin can kill. At what age will you start to have your child involved in taking their own meds? We have two kids with adhd meds, including the one who is diabetic. You can think we are the worlds worst parents for allowing our kids to be involved in their own health care and to let them have phones / watches to help them manage their health but they are actually more capable than you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

I would say the same about a child with diabetes if they weren’t capable of doing any of their own care or management. But for an 11 year old with diabetes, that isn’t an option. They will know how to check their glucose levels and what to do if they are low and alarms will ring to remind them to act. At middle age, you should be the back up plan and working on him taking a role in his own health and management.

ADHD medication is a controlled substance that can be abused, and not recommended to be in the hands of impulsive and forgetful children.

Insulin can kill. At what age will you start to have your child involved in taking their own meds? We have two kids with adhd meds, including the one who is diabetic. You can think we are the worlds worst parents for allowing our kids to be involved in their own health care and to let them have phones / watches to help them manage their health but they are actually more capable than you think.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Every situation is different, and every child is different.
The school policy is they will keep his medication for him. My question has been answered

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

I would say the same about a child with diabetes if they weren’t capable of doing any of their own care or management. But for an 11 year old with diabetes, that isn’t an option. They will know how to check their glucose levels and what to do if they are low and alarms will ring to remind them to act. At middle age, you should be the back up plan and working on him taking a role in his own health and management.

ADHD medication is a controlled substance that can be abused, and not recommended to be in the hands of impulsive and forgetful children.

Insulin can kill. At what age will you start to have your child involved in taking their own meds? We have two kids with adhd meds, including the one who is diabetic. You can think we are the worlds worst parents for allowing our kids to be involved in their own health care and to let them have phones / watches to help them manage their health but they are actually more capable than you think.

You can have a child involved in their health, and also have an adult monitoring that the medication is taken successfully, particularly at 11. It's not either or.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

It's a troll, OP, no need to respond. It's a Sunday night, Monday is a federal holiday and a lot of kids are awake, plus there's a government shutdown which is riling up a whole lot of adults... so there's more than the usual allotment of trolls right now on DCUM. I zipped by a few threads before landing here, and they've all got some weird and aggressive answers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

Absolutely and even more so. If I knew my child wasn't ready to handle life saving medication on their own, I would not send them on an overnight trip.

[Anonymous]

Contact the teacher as schools may not want him to carry his own meds. Find a way to secure the pill box to the bag so it doesn't get lost.

[Anonymous]

Get him a prepaid phone for the trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DC is not ready for this trip. It’s not reasonable or even viable for a host family or a chaperone to remind him to take medicine. If he can’t, via an alarm, then he’s not ready for this.

OP here - interesting, would you say the same thing about a child with an EpiPen or diabetes?

Not the same thing at all genius!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools usually have pretty clear guidelines about how they expect medication to be handled. Kids carrying their own medication, other than emergency meds like epi pens, glucagon, and inhalers, is generally illegal.

I would contact the school, and ask them how to handle it. At our school, the person to ask would be the school nurse.

This. Contact the school. He's a kid with a disability and they have to figure out a way to meet his medication needs while on the trip -- whether they agree to give him the meds or the host parents give the meds.

He can get in big trouble if he is caught with undeclared medication at school. Don't put him in that position.