Escape Artists

One of the less pleasant caps that I wear is that of security officer.
Those of you that are reading this that actually have children with Autism know exactly what I am talking about.

Safety is a HUGE issue when you have Autistic children.

They have a tendency to wander off. God forbid that someone picks them up or they wander into the path of oncoming traffic.

I live near a railway line so I am particularly diligent when it comes to child supervision. I am scared that one day, one of them will wander onto the tracks and we have quite a number of trains coming through.

They don't know that the trains aren't going to stop for them.

Consequently, apart from the fact that I have a psychotic ex-husband who will be released soon, I have deadlocks on just about every door in the house. I have to carry keys on me all the time as they are the key variety so that is what is dragging my pocket down when you see me in the street.

I also have tall fences in the yard.

Well, this afternoon while I was mediating a dispute between Rachel and John about who was going to ride the only bike that doesn't require repair at the moment, Nathan took the opportunity to climb through the only open window in the front of the house and walk up the road.

Fortunately he decided to walk past the backyard where we were so we saw him.

I had to run through the house, unlock the front door, lock it behind me and hoof it up the road after him to bring him back. I walked after him so he didn't start running, and he turned every now and again to smile encouragingly at me.

I have no idea where he was going as there wasn't much up that way.

He only made it to the property line of the neighbours but that was enough to scare the living bejeebers out of me and by the time we reached our garage, I was crying.

I still can't believe that my extremely chunky, non athletic little boy would even attempt such a feat but he did.

I am so glad that he decided to walk in the direction that he did, I hate to think what could have happened if he hadn't.

I called his DD case manager to ask about the wrist bands that they place on wanderers and after discussion, we decided that he would probably remove it and so I elected to seal my windows leading to the front of the house and remove the handles so they can't be opened.

My house is even more like Fort Knox. All that is left is for me to place barbed wire on the tops of the fences.

It is really hard trying to keep them safe. It is more stressful than anything knowing that you are solely responsible.

Well, all I can say is, we were lucky this time. May we continue to always be lucky.
Later