Errands with Maskless ASD child?

[Anonymous]

Why are you running errands right now? Amazon prime should be your best friend. Target delivers free for orders $35 and up. And many places are going back to doing curbside. Our kids have not been on a single errand with us since last March! Either one of us stays home, but most delivered or curbside. Even prescriptions can be brought out to the car.

[Anonymous]

There's nothing "practical" about COVID.

The rest of us with young kids also can't leave the house, and errands are just piling up. That's how it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I doubt anyone will say anything or stop you. Can you keep him in a stroller? What is it that you have to buy in person? Between all the delivery services it seems like 99.9% of things can be purchased online

Do you think the stroller would help quite a bit compared to a cart?

I'm willing to do that. I'd just have to decide if it's worth getting a stroller for that purpose. And it can be difficult to push a cart and a stroller, although I have done it before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I'm sorry to see this. He's a little kid and I don't think anyone would say anything. Also, if you're wearing a mask - it would appear that you'd have a good reason for your child not to be wearing one. No 'normal' parent would mask themselves and not their child. I would just assume he won't/can't wear one.

I agree with PP's that you do need a break, though. If you can find safe and reliable childcare.

Child care would be great, but not really in the cards for us. All we could really do would be hiring a neighborhood kid, and I figure that's substantially more dangerous than just bringing the kid along. PRe-COVID we had friends that would have helped in situations like these, but they're all on lockdown now.

We really have been trying to work with the therapists for months to get him to wear a mask. No luck. We can't even get him to wear a hat when it's cold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I'm sorry to see this. He's a little kid and I don't think anyone would say anything. Also, if you're wearing a mask - it would appear that you'd have a good reason for your child not to be wearing one. No 'normal' parent would mask themselves and not their child. I would just assume he won't/can't wear one.

I agree with PP's that you do need a break, though. If you can find safe and reliable childcare.

Child care would be great, but not really in the cards for us. All we could really do would be hiring a neighborhood kid, and I figure that's substantially more dangerous than just bringing the kid along. PRe-COVID we had friends that would have helped in situations like these, but they're all on lockdown now.

We really have been trying to work with the therapists for months to get him to wear a mask. No luck. We can't even get him to wear a hat when it's cold.

If you have a partner at home, I’d do the errands on the weekends/evenings and leave kid with them (or have partner go). Or just pay a little extra for grocery delivery, or hire someone to do your errands.

[Anonymous]

I live in Moco and wouldn’t say anything and wouldn’t judge you. I have three kids and know how hard it can be. I can’t believe that people would say something? Like who are these perfect angels that feel entitled to throw the first stone you know?!

[Anonymous]

He needs a mask or you need to have someone else do your errands or find childcare. Those are your only options. Bringing him maskless to stores and lying about his age is just irresponsible, and I say that as a mom to a child who is significantly impacted by autism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt anyone will say anything or stop you. Can you keep him in a stroller? What is it that you have to buy in person? Between all the delivery services it seems like 99.9% of things can be purchased online

Do you think the stroller would help quite a bit compared to a cart?

I'm willing to do that. I'd just have to decide if it's worth getting a stroller for that purpose. And it can be difficult to push a cart and a stroller, although I have done it before.

I think a stroller is a good idea. Get a big stroller that has a large basket underneath and heavy enough to hang bags off of. You can also buy "saddle bags" for strollers where you can store stuff. Then you won't need a cart and the stroller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some stores still do seniors and people with disabilities hours. Maybe go during those hours?

Please don’t bring your maskless child to senior citizens hour at the grocery store which is there to reduce risk of disease transmission to seniors 🙄

The stores are completely empty during those hours. Obviously keep your distance, but her kid isn’t giving anyone covid. It’s for people with disabilities too, not just seniors.

[Anonymous]

Why aren't the in home providers working with him to wear a mask? If he had to wear glasses, they would work on it. I would buy a whole bunch of different types of masks.

That being said I wouldn't even notice if a 3 year old wasn't wearing a mask unless he or she looked 5. Hopefully your 3 year old isn't tall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, ADA type allowances have clauses where an exception doesn’t have to be made for someone’s disability if that exception will put someone else in harms way. So a store could make you leave, even if your child won’t wear a mask. I would not bring him because that will happen eventually to you, and it will be upsetting to both of you.

Also- your son is having in home therapy sessions so he is being exposed to people, indoors, outside of his family. He could easily be an asymptomatic covid carrier. It’s irresponsible to bring him unmasked into a store. If you said neither of you ever left the house or socialized with anyone , indoors or out, I’d be more on your side, but what you are contemplating doing is dangerous for your community.

I'm less concerned about store employees. The MoCo order includes an exception for kids that can't developmentally wear a mask, and I think the major stores (Target, grocery stores) have policies that are no more restrictive than the county (e.g., Target includes a similar exception with their mask policy).

So I'm more looking for things I can reasonably do to try to make other customers more comfortable, while also recognizing I have a right to be there with my child, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the in home providers working with him to wear a mask? If he had to wear glasses, they would work on it. I would buy a whole bunch of different types of masks.

That being said I wouldn't even notice if a 3 year old wasn't wearing a mask unless he or she looked 5. Hopefully your 3 year old isn't tall.

I said in an earlier post that the therapists have been working on it. No luck, though, which I'm told is common for that age. It's not even unique to ASD kids.

The WHO specifically recommends against mask orders for kids younger than 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, ADA type allowances have clauses where an exception doesn’t have to be made for someone’s disability if that exception will put someone else in harms way. So a store could make you leave, even if your child won’t wear a mask. I would not bring him because that will happen eventually to you, and it will be upsetting to both of you.

Also- your son is having in home therapy sessions so he is being exposed to people, indoors, outside of his family. He could easily be an asymptomatic covid carrier. It’s irresponsible to bring him unmasked into a store. If you said neither of you ever left the house or socialized with anyone , indoors or out, I’d be more on your side, but what you are contemplating doing is dangerous for your community.

I'm less concerned about store employees. The MoCo order includes an exception for kids that can't developmentally wear a mask, and I think the major stores (Target, grocery stores) have policies that are no more restrictive than the county (e.g., Target includes a similar exception with their mask policy).

So I'm more looking for things I can reasonably do to try to make other customers more comfortable, while also recognizing I have a right to be there with my child, too.

OP, you do not have a right to be in a store with a maskless child during the pandemic anymore than you have the right to drive with him without a seatbelt/car seat.

Please make arrangements to do what you have to do without him. A sitter IS in the cards for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the in home providers working with him to wear a mask? If he had to wear glasses, they would work on it. I would buy a whole bunch of different types of masks.

That being said I wouldn't even notice if a 3 year old wasn't wearing a mask unless he or she looked 5. Hopefully your 3 year old isn't tall.

I said in an earlier post that the therapists have been working on it. No luck, though, which I'm told is common for that age. It's not even unique to ASD kids.

The WHO specifically recommends against mask orders for kids younger than 5.

But our mandates do specify a mask after two. I don’t take my child on any errands because of this. You can do it, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you running errands right now? Amazon prime should be your best friend. Target delivers free for orders $35 and up. And many places are going back to doing curbside. Our kids have not been on a single errand with us since last March! Either one of us stays home, but most delivered or curbside. Even prescriptions can be brought out to the car.

We do that a lot, although mostly with Amazon. Using Shipt has been a disaster almost every time we've tried to use it. The stores' inventory systems are simply not good enough to keep track of what they actually have, so almost every time we've used it I've had to go to store anyways.

I know a lot of people use those delivery services, though. I don't understand how they do it without always running into missing items.