6 year old's interests

[skettle]

My 6, nearly 7 year old son doesnt have any interests/hobbies other than the playstation and it's starting to worry me a little. I dont want him to end up a counch potato or loner...

He goes to a st Johns ambulance group once a week and I am putting him in swimming lessons next year but apart from that, the PS2 is all he seems interested in.

Is this normal?

[gigglinggoblin]

have you thought about taking him to beavers? something else he could do. or limiting playstation time? have you joined the library yet? both my kids think a trip to the library is a huge treat (meany mummy hehe)

[Skribble]

My DS enjoys his play station and the computer a lot to. I would be careful about what kind of games he plays. I have encouraged the strategy games and on the PC he is in to the tycoon games which I think have a lot of benefits. He goes on line and has set up 2 websites by himself already. I think in this day and age computing is a major skill. But yes he needs to have other interests too. He also goes to beavers, Gymnastics and a Naturalists club (no not naturist . He loves to read and learn about science and space too.

The St Johns and swimming are great, does he get a chance to play with any one his age out of school. Its about getting a balance I suppose. I am glad that he isn't into football really. The boys that are into that aren't into much else and the majority grow up only watching the matches not even playing it.

Something like the St Johns is good, as he gets older he will get the chance to work at events as a volunteer first aider and continue to learn more skills. He will meet loads of other kids and it must be great for his confidence.

[FairyMum]

I have got a 7 year old DD and she goes to swimming and ballet. Have you tried limiting the play station use?

[starlover]

ok well why don't you just start by doing things at home? i know it is difficult to spare the time sometimes... but it'll be worth it

limit his use of the playstation for a start... half an hour after school max.
set up and art box for him and spend time with him painting or drawing. take him out to the park to kick a ball around... or even just in the garden

show him that he can have fun in other ways.
tbh I would be a little bit worried if my 6 yr old only wanted to play on a ps2

[LIZS]

I'd say it isn't normal but that it is really easy to fall into a rut with kids who are tired after a day at school and needs to chill. Agree about limiting his time on PS2 but not sure a host of other activities are the answer - 2 sounds fine. Does he have siblings or friends nearby who he can play with readily for short periods once or twice a week.

[ScummyMummy]

I would be relatively unworried by this but try and broaden his range of activities a bit as others have said. Mine like their gamecube, telly and the computer but are also pretty active, like comic books, playing with toys, writing silly notes and telling silly jokes and drawing.