I have a 10-year old boy, the oldest of two boys. He is a lovely son; healthy, tall, intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive and so on. He is fantastically articulate, does brilliantly at school, is highly academic, has many interests and achieves at most things he tries. I love him dearly and I am incredibly proud of him. Incidentally, he is also far from being an angel - at times, he does all those naughty boy things like running around, shouting, pushing boundaries, being cheeky etc.
I hope I don't come across as paranoid but in spite of all the above (and I feel incredibly lucky) I am also very worried about him.
He gets on well with family and our friends and can talk well (confidently and (relatively) interestingly to older people. He is also incredibly good with younger children; he often plays with his brother and his friends (2 years younger) - although he tends to dominate somewhat - and he is lovely with babies.
The problem is that he seems to find it very difficult to socialise with boys of his own age. He is not interested at all in football, which seems to be the big playground ice-breaker. He seems awkward in the presence of his peers and he also seems to realise this; when he is with a group of peers (for example, at parties) he often gets over-excited and, I feel, tries too hard. He does not have an especial best friend or even any close ones (unlike his brother who has 4 or 5 - I think he also realises this and finds it frustrating).
He reads a lot and has a very active imagination. He obviously spends a lot of his time playing in his own head - for example, if we are on car journeys he will usually just be making noises to himself, clearly acting out some story to himself.
I feel guilty; I think my husband and I have brought him up differently. They do not have DSs or computer games. They do not watch much TV. We have always spoken to them as adults. We have probably concentrated more on family than friends.
So. Is anyone out there in a similar position? Have others been through this? I don't mind him being different - he is lovely as he is. But I do want him to have some proper friends of his age and be happier mixing with people his own age as he goes through school.
Angstriddenmum