Comments on my 7 year old being "young" for his age?

[Plimos]

My just turned 7 YO has notably different interests to those of the majority of his peers. I feel like he doesn't have many friends because of this.

He spends most of his free time reading, drawing, doing lego and playing imaginary games. He has a Nintendo Switch which he likes but will do 30 minutes on it max before he gets bored. Whereas the other boys in his class seem to want to do nothing but play Minecraft, Roblox etc. I have had comments from other parents that my DS is very young for his age because he "still" plays with toys. At 7 surely he's fine to be playing with toys?!?! He has also been teased by the other children because he still watches some cbeebies programmes like Hey Duggee, Maddie, Bluey. He also likes some CBBC stuff and other things.

Academically he's fine, ahead in most areas. And I feel that he is emotionally mature. He seems perfectly happy. But people are making me feel that his interests are too "young" and that's why he gets left out of things at school. Any experiences?

Regarding screen time, I thought it was generally accepted that too much screen time is damaging for kids and we don’t understand the extent of it yet. Surprised that this is the subject of heated debate tbh. Are we all supposed to say oh yes screens are fine so that nobody feels bad?
That's pretty much the expectation in my experience, same with handing out smart phones with limited parental control or oversight to KS2 children.

It seems to be generally fine to say you don't do much, or any, screen time with your children/you're intentional about what screens and content your children have (and unfortunately have to tolerate the inevitable cries of "but what about their friends!!!!! Everyone else will have...." and endless questions about why/how will your children manage in the real world if they're not glued to YouTube aged 8?), but any answer about why isn't really allowed unless you trust the people you're talking about not to be the sort of twitchy insecure parents who view other people's parenting choices as a dig.

It sounds exactly like my seven year old who is currently playing with his old brio train set which he found when we were tidying up... I think it's sad that some children grow up so fast...

This exactly

He sounds mature for his age to me, if he's doing things he likes doing rather than just following the crowd, and not allowing himself to get bothered by the fact that other people are into different things to him, that's a sign of maturity for me! My DD is nearly 7 too, in Y2, she likes Roblox etc (unfortunately!) but she also still likes CBeebies and is also arty. You're doing the right thing encouraging him to follow his interests. Art club sounds great!

Tell them to 01do1 it's nothing to do with anyone else what your son likes.

pick up a pen and paper and take a few minutes to make a list of every person who has made the ‘young for his age’ comment. The list might be quite short. If it is, then don’t let comments from a handful of rather rude people get to you.

My Kids aged 10 and 12 have never been to school , we have home ed from the start. They still play with toys, play outside, read books, play Lego, just what kids should be doing. They also play violin, cello and piano and do not have any game consoles, just play board games.

He sounds like a great boy. I hate the judginess of young people by their peers and other adults. Imagine if we nurtured our difference rather than trying to make all kids conform to be the same. Maybe as adults we might feel more accepted and not that we’ve been squished in to a box for the first 18 years of life.

A sad comment on society where reading is thought of as showing immaturity compared with mindlessly repetitive computer game playing. You seven year old sounds delightful and rather well balanced. The kids around him, not so much.

It is so lovely that he does these things. My 8 year old is exactly the same and it's great! I have had so many of the opposite conversations with people who complain that their children only want to watch tv or play minecraft. Keep nurturing your lovely child and he will definitely grow up to be someone arty and independent. Good job Mumma!

A good job nobody said that to Michelangelo, Picasso, Caravaggio, Da Vinci and many other artists who have brought such joy to humanity.

Sorry this was about art being for girls

That all sounds like normal 7 year old stuff to me. I remember the pressure from peers to get rid of my dolls and stuff and I ignored them. Sounds like he has a lot of interests and is happy doing them. I am not surprised at the kids, I am surprised at the other parents. Maybe they are feeling a little insecure about their own parenting and that can lead to bullying.

My sons have always loved Lego, books, and reading. Still build Lego at age 18 and 15!!!! Some children prefer these things to sport. If he's happy that's all that matters. Z

My sons have always loved Lego, books and reading. They are still Lego mad aged 18 and 15. Some children prefer these to sports. As long as your son is happy that's all that matters. They have a playstation but not constantly playing it x

7 year olds playing on screens all the time wtf!! And these parents think that’s normal ??

He sounds just like my seven year old son. He's also very creative spends hours colouring and drawing and building Lego. He watches cbeebies, loves bluey but also likes tish tash and the Spidey team and lots more of them. He loves superheroes and said he's sad that his friends say they don't like superheroes and only want to play Minecraft.

Hi, your post resonated with me as my just 9yr old is very similar- enjoys his switch/ipad time but will also spend hours playing with Lego, Playmobil, making up different games etc He really isn’t into football, which seems to be a huge thing in their year group, so we did enroll him in afterschool football clubs just to build his confidence and (I’m ashamed to say) to help his ‘social status’ as didn’t want him to be left out or bullied by his peers!

However, whilst it’s taken time for his confidence to grow, we’ve seen him developing a few close friendships with like minded kids, and he’s always been included in the whole class parties, I’m sure it will be slightly different as they move into Y5, but we have to kind of accept and appreciate his personality and that not every kid is ‘the life of the party’ or into gaming and football, and it’s fine. As long as he’s fairly well rounded, and has one or two friends he’s comfortable with and gets on with his class ‘overall’ it’s fine. I’d rather he spends hours on Lego than on a screen anyway 😊

My DD is 6 & does all those things! I think she’s quite grown up for her age. She does sometimes say cbeebies is babyish now (😩) but then she’ll ask me to put Bluey or Andy’s animal adventures on…

She role plays 90% of her free time. She does watch YouTube kids and I have noticed an increase in her time so I’m going to start lining that. The playing is sooo much healthier.

I think he sounds lovely! My daughter is 8 and loves playing with her toy kitchen, having tea parties with her teddies and still builds cities out of wooden building blocks!! If they can’t enjoy playing at 7 then it’s a very sad world we live in.

My DSS 11 loves drawing and still plays with huge dinosaurs .. he plays fortnight with his friends and watches things his age but also loves films and series my 7yo Dd watches. He ll play imaginary games with my Dd when they outside for hours too. But with his mates he plays basketball or football and she knows not to talk about their games in front of his mates 😂 there’s nothing wrong with your DS he’s enjoying his childhood he has years to come of being stuck in his room with a computer. I wonder if parents discourage play sometimes to free up space with out all the toys and mess .. but they little for such a short time id not do anything to make him grow up any quicker. If they are making fun of him maybe he can try watching what they like if it’s suitable … still watch the things he likes too but maybe talk about what they all watch with his friends and keep bluey to himself, I’m quite sure my DSS does not go into his yr7 class and talk about the 5 episodes he watched of lion guard the night before 😂 DSS is very popular at school and quite a lot older so I’m sure your DS will get the balance right with his friends too in time.

He's sounds a lovely normal 7 year old 🥰

I think it's lovely that your DS is doing his own thing and not bowing to peer pressure. It's great that he goes to art club and enjoys it. My friend's DH does a lot of painting and even sells quite a few pieces, so that could be your DS in the future. You sound like a lovely mum, so please ignore anyone who is being rude about your DS.

Maybe the other kids are 'old' for their age & your son is being allowed to grow & devolop at his own pace.

Not at all! My 9.5yo DS still plays with cars, wooden train track occasionally and draws daily. He loves running and football too. It helps that he has a 6yo brother so the younger toys are still around and he'll still play with the farm, duplo etc. My boys love their toys and I have to resist the urge to get rid of things just because I think they're too old for them. His friends love coming round to actually play. Most big children still enjoy playing with certain toys given the opportunity.