ADD Moms

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If you follow me on Facebook, you would know that yesterday I spent the greater part of it in my car running errands (including a kind of creepy part when this undercover police car from Wisconsin kept showing up everywhere I went. I live in Indiana.)

I bet I drove 100 miles or more yesterday, or at least it seemed like it. Since driving was on my mind, I started thinking about GPS systems - you know - the things you put in your car that give you directions for where you need to go.

It occurred to me that GPS devices would be great for ADD drivers, and not just when we need to know how to get somewhere.

For instance, those of us with ADHD have a tendency to get distracted or just get lost in thought. How many times have you missed a turn or had to backtrack because you weren’t paying attention and passed up where you needed to go? Just this morning I was driving along, lost in thought, when I sort of focused in and had to take a good look at where I was at. I hadn’t missed my turn, but I thought I had.

A GPS, even for places you go to regularly, would make sure you make your turn when you’re supposed to. It would also be great for those of us who are directionally challenged. Most times I know north from south, but sometimes if you get turned around, it’s about hopeless.

Or how about those times when you go into auto pilot? You know - you’re headed to a doctor’s appointment and his office happens to be in the same direction as the grocery store. Your brain and your car go onto auto pilot and you find yourself pulling into the grocery store parking lot instead of the doctor’s office. A GPS could prevent that.

New teen drivers - ADHD or not - could also benefit from using a GPS.

When my son Andy first started driving, he didn’t know how to get anywhere. He had never had to pay attention before to streets, directions, and the logistics of getting from here to there. But when he started driving, he had to learn that.

The first place he learned how to drive to was school. He had a friend named John who lived near the high school, so his house was pretty easy to find. For a long time, though, any directions for any other place he wanted to drive to had to go to John’s house first. (You know how to get to John’s house? Well, you’re not going to go that way. ).

A GPS could have helped him learn to get places more easily and possibly helped him pay attention to his driving a little more.

Finally, a GPS is great for when you have a day like I did yesterday - driving all over the place running one errand after another. Sometimes when I have a lot of places to go, I try to map out everything so that I’m not backtracking. Sometimes I do OK, and other times, not so much. A GPS could do that for me, saving me both time and money.

I bet you never thought a GPS device was good for anything except long trips and new places. If it can help you be a better ADHD driver, though, it might be worth a look.

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