No sense of direction? Has anyone or their children overcome this?

[roisin]

I'm aware that ds1 (10) may soon want to go to town on his own or with his mates. But he has absolutely no sense of direction.

We've lived here for 5.5 years, and pop down to the town centre or the library every 2 or 3 weeks, an we almost always walk. (It's less than a mile and pretty much in a straight direction down a single road).

The town centre is small and compact, and there is a very small number of shops that we go in regularly (maybe 12 in total).

DS1 has no clue how to get from one shop to the other, and no idea which direction to head when it's time to go home. Even when we're on the main road heading home, he's not sure where he is!

I haven't got a fantastic sense of direction myself so I'm not entirely unsympathetic, but he really is hopeless.

Short of fitting him with GPS, is there anything I can do?

Wire him up with Sat Nav lol.

You should go down with him and make him find the way around the shops and then back home. Keep doing this as often as possible until he does know the way home. You could also arm him with a print out of you local areas streetmap and draw the route with a highlighter and give him that to use.

I'm terrible, especially with other people and can never actually tell someone the way somewhere but on my own I just sort of go on auto pirate and get there. You'll probably find that he is fine.

And if it is on a straight line then remind him that to get home he has to stand with the whatever pub on his left and walk. He can always ask where the pub is!

Pirate? Pirate? Pilot!!!!!!

Am planning a pirate fun day at the moment

lol at Auto Pirate!

thanks

I want an auto pirate. Do you end up saying 'ahoy matey' a lot?

Seriously, direction skills vary a lot, and different people find their way in different ways. I always think in terms of compass directions, so am forever getting lost in UK cities (Most North American cities are gridplan.) I have to carry a map sometimes, although I'm getting better at coping with the UK's crappy stupid annoying idiosyncratic town layouts.

I'd do as Lola suggests and get him to navigate his way around for a bit, while you're with him. Much as (I gather) one trains them to cross streets carefully by letting them decide when to cross, while you're still with them.

He is only 10 and his sense of direction will probably get beter as he gets older. Ny DD's diddn't go into towm with thier friends until they wer 13.
They did at 10 start going to the park which is just across the road and then to some shops just down th street.
I alos used to go into town with them stay at one shop and let them go into the next shop then would go and meet them.

I sympathise with him! I have no sense of direction at all - either then or now!! My son is slightly better - but not much. It feels a bit like geographical dyslexia to me. I have coped with it my memorising regular routes, a satnav in the car, and when I was younger, a street map in my pocket! I have got better, but I still get lost in our local town (which is not big!) 40 years later. On the plus side - it hasn't stopped me doing anything - and I'm a really good map reader!!!! (because i have no instinct about where to go, so i take good notice of the map).

I should use strategies - but don't worry too much about it - and good luck!!