Fairly new to Mumsnet so don't know abbreviations so please bear with me!
My ds age 13 is completely addicted to computer/PS3 games. He is not and has never been a very confident child and although has tried most sports (football, golf, basketball, cricket), cubs, guitar lessons has not stuck at anything.
We are at the end of our tether now as it seems that he does not want to leave the village except to go to school (which he doesn't enjoy) He used to go to the local skatepark and shopping with friends but this has now stopped and friends now stop asking him. He does have several friends who come to call and who play with him inside. He does sometimes go out on his BMX/skateboard but recently has taken to coming back in within about 15 minutes saying others are picking on him. He has had trouble in the past with name calling, teasing etc which he finds hard to handle (school have tried to help him with this) We are beginning to question though whether the bullying stories are true or that he is making it up simply to come in to go back on the computer.
We do restrict the time he spends on the computer but it is always a battle to get him to come off. We have tried to encourage him to do after school clubs but he refuses point blank and won't even contemplate trying anything different. We are so FRUSTRATED!
My dh is trying to get him involved with things he is interested in but this involves motorbikes which fills me with dread. DH did make him go to play pool with him yesterday and they enjoyed spending the time together and ds came back a different child.
I am afraid we do not know what to do anymore - do we just leave him to it and hope that as he matures he will try new things or do we push now to get him interested in stuff. Just want him to be a happy, confident kid but he's not at the moment. Any advice/similar stories would be appreciated.