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How much should a 10yo be able to occupy themselves?

7 replies

BertieBotts · 06/05/2019 21:44

I feel like I've lost all sense of normal with this. DS1 age 10 is so needy for attention at weekends or during holidays, or even after school sometimes. We have recently cut his screen time right down - it had just slipped and slipped until he was on it for the entire day which was ridiculous. So first I cut it down to 6 hours max (as in less than half awake time) but it was still too much so I've cut it in half again and now he has 3 hours. He mainly uses this to play Fortnite with school friends or play single player games on the playstation/switch or watch YouTube on his phone. (Yes - he has a smartphone - but this is fairly typical among his school friends, we're not in the UK. It's got controls on it and we remove it at night.)

For the first (half term) week we cut it down to 3h I mentally allocated myself 3 hours of time to occupy him myself too, to kind of help him wean down from the screens and kick start him into doing stuff. Made the mistake of mentioning this to him and he just ended up badgering me for the entire week "What are we doing together?" "You've only spent half an hour, I've got 2.5 hours left" I ended up exhausted and had no time to get anything done Confused

When he is meant to be occupying himself he can think of "literally nothing" to do, all he does is flop around and complain about being bored, or hover around near people generally being in your personal space but not actually doing anything or making demands to "Doooo something together". The one thing he will do when he gets fed up enough is read, but he doesn't go off by himself to read, he stands behind me reading the jokes from a comic type book in a monotone because it's like he can't fathom the idea of simply enjoying something for himself. I feel like a massive arse and a horrible mother for essentially wanting him to shut up and leave me alone for a bit. But I'm sure by 10 I'm not meant to be providing constant entertainment or activities for him? Am I? We do stuff together but not all day every day. I do wonder if I should set up crafts or something, but I would have thought he'd be a bit old for things like that now. Should I be stuffing his days full of planned activities? I've tried to get him to sign up for clubs and things like that but am just met with total lack of interest. He keeps telling me he only likes doing new things, but doesn't actually want to try anything unfamiliar

I tried making a rule that he was not allowed to ask to "do something" but he was allowed to make a suggestion e.g. "Do you want to play monopoly?" that was a bit better, but he still wouldn't go off on his own and do stuff. The baby is better at playing alone than he is Confused (It's not related to sibling jealousy BTW - he was like this long before any sniff of a baby.) In fact the baby slightly improves things as now he has someone to play with, but we do sometimes end up telling him off because he gets too hyper and silly around him.

Do you entertain your 10yos? What kinds of non-screen things do they go off and do on their own?

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HennyPennyHorror · 06/05/2019 22:50

No ten year old is too old for crafts! Set him up....get a load of different things.

My 11 year old is a bit like this. Her sister wasn't...so I get confounded by it too. I tell mine things like "In half an hour we'll have a sword fight" and make sure I spend a good 20 mins doing that...or whatever. That's better than him holding you to ransom for his three hours.

On one hand it's good though OP...he likes being with you! My older DD sort of dumped me at this age...entertains herself for hours and just "visits" me for little chats.

So...here's what I do for DD to help her entertain herself or entertain her.

Sword fights...we use broom handles and put motorcycle helmets on. Bit mad...but I don't care, she loves it and also does it with her mates when they visit. We invent a saga...and I always die....I'm always the baddie.

Crafts I give her a selection of lumps of wood, paint, glitter and glue and paper I've saved up...she "makes things" some of which are quite ingenious such as the robot she made for her Dad.

I send her to make a pond in the garden. She digs a hole and lines it...and ornaments it with shells etc. These never last...and she likes redoing them.

She goes to our local library...which is up the road (lucky)

She has a mate round to play.

Could your DS have a mate round on weekends?

BertieBotts · 07/05/2019 08:13

Oh thanks, those are really good ideas. Yes he can have friends over, but they just end up on consoles the whole time (which is OK) or playfighting in the bedroom which is a bit much, we are in a small flat. I do try and turf them out to do their rough play outside - we have amazing outdoor space, and we even have two bikes with the idea being he can lend one out - but then they just sit around on a bench on their phones Hmm They aren't allowed phones out at school so they must get up to something but apparently not here.

We sometimes bake or cook together, he likes that.

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HennyPennyHorror · 07/05/2019 08:37

I'd push the baking and cooking. Maybe get him to design menus...using BBC Good Food website as inspiration. Or even get him to start a blog...he can upload his recipes and pics of his dishes.

That will encourage a good hobby as well as satisfy his tech desires.

Lara53 · 08/05/2019 08:21

Take him swimming, bike riding, skate park, play football, rugby, tennis etc . Try to recreate the adrenalin rushes he gets from Fortnite etc. Is dad in the picture? What do they do together? I’m afraid mine were just signed up for clubs if I needed space/ time in the holidays. What clubs do school friends do?

HennyPennyHorror · 08/05/2019 09:00

Lara OP says he doesn't respond well to unfamiliar activities and you can't force a 10 year old. I know...my DD's the same.

MumUnderTheMoon · 08/05/2019 10:28

My dd has access to her iPad at all times it's part of how she entertains herself. I set the individual apps on timers so she can't sit on YouTube or minecraft etc all day. But she will listen to music while she crafts or builds Lego. Or she'll listen to an audio book or take photos or make videos. When I was little my parents would think nothing about me sitting and reading all day and screen time is just another thing we can entertain ourselves and our kids with.

BertieBotts · 08/05/2019 12:48

Yeah he's not really into adrenaline rushes very much, hates anything too scary! Won't do skateboarding, will only go on bike if we all do. The activities he did with friends were hip hop dance and tae kwon do, but he doesn't really want to do it if his friends aren't there. The local sports club (which offers both) is so much cheaper than the dedicated tae kwon do or dance club.

DH is his stepdad but they are close, he usually does gaming stuff with him though.

He loves swimming - keep meaning to try and do that in a holiday.

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