My son is 10 at the end of August and is addicted to gaming.
He refuses to engage in anything else including school.
He seems unhappy or disappointed when I arrange anything else - it always goes ‘wrong’ or he doesn’t enjoy it as much as he thought he would or suddenly becomes sad and wants to retreat back into his tech.
We’re on holiday in Tenerife with his best friend and he’s been having meltdowns every single day, saying he wants to fly home. (Despite having fun for hours on end in the pool).
he begged me to book a swimming with dolphins experience and I paid £150 happy to find something that might give him wonderful memories. We arrived at the park and he got splashed with salt water which stung on his sunburn and he was apocalyptic. He insisted we go straight back to the hotel. Screamed the place down. Luckily I got the refund back.
later in the holiday he begged me to book a moped experience then five minutes in had a meltdown, said he hated it and yelled at me to take it back.
And now, 4 days in, he’s stopped swimming in the pool and won’t leave the room.
i’ve had to place a restriction on tech time because he told me he wanted to spend the rest of the holiday in the room on his phone.
i’ve allowed him 3 separate hour-long slots (which is a lot!) where he can have dedicated tech time and he can choose when he uses them. He’s obsessed with this tech time. Living his whole life around it. He’s the same at home.
He keeps insisting he’s having the worst time of his life and crying to go home. Even though when he’s not in a meltdown he’s having fun.
we go home tomorrow.
This problem is ongoing though and I don’t know how to fix it.
things to note: his dad and I divorced last year, there’s lots of change in his life. Two new homes.
but this tech obsession and the reluctance to engage in anything else had been going on long before we split.
anyone else dealing with this? Any help appreciated!