How do you deal with a child who forms obsessions about things?
DS has recently turned 7 and is currently going through a football obsession but it's starting to spoil his friendships with friends who aren't as interested. It's all he wants to talk about, it's all he wants to play, it's just taken over his life.
He's fallen out with his close friends this week because they haven't wanted to play or talk about football with him and he's taken it personally. I've tried to explain that they just don't like it as much as he does but he just sobs and tells me that they do but they're being mean and (surprise surprise) won't listen to reason about it.
He's driving me potty too as I don't really care about it but it's the only thing he wants to talk about! He has an amazing memory as well so he seems to know every single player for every team ever and I can't/don't want to keep up.
I've tried taking him to the soft play for example to distract him, but our local soft plays all now have sports pitches now. If I take him to the park, he wants to bring a ball. I've taken him to the cinema and he'll start chatting about players. I'll do crafts or baking with him and he'll start talking about football etc etc.
Does anyone have any tips or has someone been through this before?