Letting your child be responsible for taking meds

[Anonymous]

If you're child is away with friends, at camp or at school, do you let your child be responsible for taking his meds? Assume, he/she is responsible, it's one 10mg pill. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Camp and school probably have rules against letting kids self-administer medication.

As for out with friends, it would depend on how time-aware a kid is. My child, 8, would not be able to reliably remember to take it.

[Anonymous]

You need to give an age.

[Anonymous]

Give an age and some rundown of what the child's issues are and what the medication is for. I would be more wary of letting a child be responsible for, say, a seizure medication or insulin in a brittle young child than I would a medication that has a longer half life (Baclofen, for example).

Telling us it's 10 mg has absolutely no meaning. 10 mg of valium is a huge dose. 10 mg of ibuprofen is a tiny dose.

[Anonymous]

Kids are not allowed to have their medications at school unless you get special permission from the school and no I don't and wouldn't do that. Too much potential for error and abuse. My son takes stimulant medication which has a great street value and I don't want him in the position of being pressured to give them to others.

But, since he was about in fourth grade, I've been working with him to be independent with medications. I bought one of those weekly pill containers. Each week he fills it and he takes his capsule everyday. But, I can go behind him and check to be sure he did it. Since we started this, he's missed less than five times over three years.

[Anonymous]

OP here. He's 4th grade, responsible and 10mg Focalin. School is not my real concern because he gets a long acting XR before school, it's when he goes away for the day or weekend with another family. Just curious if anyone has done that and how it's worked out.

[Anonymous]

My 8th grader is responsible for taking her 10 mg booster when she gets home from school. BUT we have a timer set on her phone so that she doesn't forget. And most days either DH is home or I am teleworking.

Does your child have a watch/device with a timer? I would consider doing that with a very compliant 4th grader. But I would also make sure the other adults know that he is supposed to take the meds and when.

Like a PP suggested, I highly recommend a daily pill case. That way if he is ever unsure, he will know if he has taken it or not . We find that very helpful.

[Anonymous]

4th is a gray area. I would trust my 5th grader but not my 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

My son is in 4th grade and takes Vyvanse. If he spends the night at his friend's house, I'll ask the friend's mom to give him his pill. He wouldn't remember it on his own most of the time. He needs to take it before 9am at the latest and I doubt he would remember by then (or at all).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He's 4th grade, responsible and 10mg Focalin. School is not my real concern because he gets a long acting XR before school, it's when he goes away for the day or weekend with another family. Just curious if anyone has done that and how it's worked out.

You must understand every child is different, but at this stage you still give the medication to a responsible adult.

[Anonymous]

My 13 year old DS who does not have special needs is allowed to take his own allergy pill when he is out of town. I totally trust him and he always takes it. I wouldn't trust my 10 year old with ADHD since, well, he has ADHD and he might forget But it really depends on your kid. For my ADHD kid, I just give it to the adult in charge.

[Anonymous]

In addressing life skills and preparing our child for the real world, we used a watch with alerts ipad w alerts, and now his phone w alarms (lots of structured and visual reminders in place). In addition we have an AM/PM weekly meds box that we fill and have taught our child what each med is, what it looks like, etc. We still monitor and set verbal reminders /prompts but our child is a pre-teen now and we've been doing this for a number of years to ensure our child has a good understanding of the medications and their importance and ultimately, it will be his responsibility for his health. Of course, each child is different and medications are different and has to be weighed.