Always bored

[LittleLu]

My son is 9 and is always bored. He has never really played with toys although he loves his PS2 - but he will only play sport games on it. He is very talented at all sport and plays tennis for the county. He is academically very bright but at school has always presented challenging behaviour, this is in the form of annoying his classmates and teachers - he is bored! I'm fed up with teachers moaning about him.. Although he loves sport he also finds it boring as well - because he is far ahead of his years in ability, any sport he does at school is not challenging enough. His first love is football but in training sessions he often plays up, but will give 100% in a match. The same with tennis - during an hour's coaching, for example, he will lose interest after 1/2 hour - bored! He likes to be centre of attention and has to be constantly challenged in whatever he does. An added issue is that he has type 1 diabetes - this doesn't help his mood or concentration and he is beginning to get very upset about having it as he just wants to be a 'normal boy'. Over the years we have thought he may have ADD but we've ruled that out - I've had training in the condition and it doesn't add up with him.. Gifted and Talented?? Probably....definitely talented in sport. Any suggestions/strategies gratefully received!!??

[singsong]

How about friends of similar age -does he meet and play with any out of school?

[HonoriaGlossop]

Perhaps you could pursue the G & T thing with school, would they be able to allow him extra sport or tennis or something? Surely a boy who is playing tennis for his county has to 'count' as G & T in sport at school.

Could you arrange that the coaching is done in half hour bursts instead of him being expected to sustain an hour? I think an hour is a long time when you're 9.

Perhaps he needs to feel the football is going somewhere? Is he able to join some sort of major club's youth team or something, or work towards that?

[phlossie]

He sounds just like my little bro! Schools are good at catering for 'special educational needs' at the bottom end, but not the gifted children. It's a real problem. Sports clubs outside school might be the answer? I think you should sit down together and work out ways of coping with the boredom other than annoying other people (I have no idea how!). And maybe talk to his school too. Secondary school will be much better.
My brother is a gifted musician. Now he's 21 and seeing him play songs he has composed himself is amazing. It'll pay off when your son is playing for England!

[Frizbe]

Introduce him to CCG's (collectable card games) or Gamesworkshop stuff, should keep his mind busy.