A day in the life of an 8-9 year old boy....

[gameboy]

Can you tell me about yours please?

My DS doesn't seem quite like his friends and I'm beginning to feel that I don't understand him any more/ I don't REALLY know what he likes or dislikes (sometimes I think he just says what he thinks I wnat to hear).

I'm just wondering whether this is normal, and just a phase...

So,

What are their favourites toys?
What do they do after school?

• at home
• outside of home

What hobbies do they have?
If they have friends round, what do they do together?

What sorts of things are they interested in?

I wish we had Woodcraft Folk near us, ds is lucky with his Cubs, who are a jolly lot, but I think we'd like Woodcraft better as a family.
Puddle, I like the way ds will still play Walk the Plank, "dancing" and even Baby Hospital with his little sis. I tend to forget that older/younger is not just about trying to shield preschool eyes and ears from Dick and Dom

Our woodcraft is a parent-run cooperative Marina - would there be an appetite for something like that where you are? We all plan the sessions together and then each take responsibility for running a session every half term. It's more time intensive than just droppping them off, but I like to be involved while ds wants me to be (the time will come soon enough when he wants to be more independent and doesn't want us hanging aound).

ahundredtimes - they sound fab, and just like my boys!!

Can anyone explain woodcraft a bit more?

I'm not sure there is puddle
Scouting Movement is very well-run and numerous locally and my part of London is not popular with, tbh, the thoughtful/greeny/nonconformist sort of household that I think underpin Woodcraft. Most of my neighbourhood are more into 4 x 4s and uPVC windows

www.woodcraft.org.uk/

Our group meets weekly to do a range of stuff (games, art, drama, outdoor actinities- either sports based or nature based) and we also have weekends away together three or four times a year (sometimes camping, sometimes not).

Shame Marina. But good you have a well run and jolly lot of scouts!

Puddle -- thanks for link to Woodcraft Folk! Have discovered there is one near us and will look into it for certain. I love the idea of cubs, scouts, (camping, outdoor stuff) but DS1 is a bit 'non-conformist' and not terribly keen. How long have you been involved etc.? Would be lovely if you could tell us more! What sort of sessions do parents run? Do parents have to be v.talented and handy??

erniesmama I have been doing it for about 2 years. The sessions we do vary - in the summer we do eg den building in the woods, tree spotting walks, bike rides, games outdoors. In the winter we do eg indoor games sessions, art activities, junk modelling, circus skills etc.

Parents are not highly skilled really! What we have in common is we are all quite outdoorsy, like camping (most of us) and are a bit eco- environmental in our outlook. The reason I wanted to do woodcraft was because I have friends who did it as kids and made life long friends through it - they still used to camp together when they were in their 20s. And are all really nice people.

Thanks Puddle! It sounds really idyllic actually! I think it's hard to find interests for boys who aren't into football etc., so feel quite excited to find an alternative that would be good for all the family!!

ds1 is 10 in december. He talks a million words a minute. He has 2 very best friends in school and one bf out of school. He cannot do big group of boy rough and tumble stuff.
He hates sport. Loves swimming.
Hates organised group activities so tried and hated cubs. He eats, breathes and dreams Lego.
He loves science 'experiemnts' and Star Wars.
He is 'writing' a star wars type film.
he wants to be in a guitar band. He wants to be a chef.
He hates writing but loves drawing. He will not learn to ride a bike but likes scootering and roller skating. He loves boogie boards and dreams of surfing one day (but we are land-locked )
He adores it when we go to music festivals and will climb anything.

When his friends come round they play Nintendo, Lego, Star Wars role playing type games, watch movies and The Simpsons. Eat everything in the house. And laugh a lot.

My son is just 10

What are their favourites toys? YU GI OH CARDS, BEY BLADES, STAR WARS FIGURES, POKEMON CARDS, WII, PS2, PLAYING FOOTBALL

What do they do after school? WE DON'T GET IN UNTIL 6PM SO IT'S CHORES, TALK, TV, BATH AND BED AT 8 ISH

• at home AS ABOVE
• outside of home NOTHING, HE DOESN'T WANT TO JOIN CLUBS SO I HAVEN'T MADE HIM BUT DOES LIKE PLAYING FOOTBALL ALTHOUGH NOT IN A CLUB

What hobbies do they have? AS ABOVE, YU GI OH ETC, FOOTBALL
If they have friends round, what do they do together? ABOVE + FOOTBALL

What sorts of things are they interested in? ABOVE PLUS FILMS, SOME BOOKS, SECRET SEVEN AND HE'S READING SOME FANTASY TYPE STUFF TOO ATM, PLUS SOMETIMES LIKES SCIENCE TYPE EXPERIMENTS

Oh I asked about hobbies etc recently and was greatly reassured.

I wishyour sons all lived near us, it sounds like there are some real kindred spirit shere

DS2 is 8 nearly 9.

He doesn't really play with toys. He likes playing on his bike, football and cricket.

He plays for a football team so has training once a week and a match on Saturdays. Also does after school football once a week.

He likes playing on his PSP, gameboy and PS2. Loves pokemon and teddy bears

His best friend at home is a girl - they are 'just friends' but he does suffer some teasing about this but he is so laid back that it goes right over his head.