Resentful of my 10 yo

amother

Thu, May 09 2024, 7:47 am

Who has not a single neighborhood friend. He has lots of school friends but none live nearby. He always complained that the neighbors ruin his Lego or have older brothers and sisters and he doesn’t want to play at their house. Now he has no neighborhood friends and the burden of entertainment falls on me. He has books, basketball hoop, games. But he just causes trouble with his younger siblings and expects me to entertain him. I really am not happy about this and can’t handle. If anyone has advice…

amother

Lightcyan

Thu, May 09 2024, 9:56 am

Can he call someone from school for a payday? Any cousins close by? We have a pool so comes spring my son gets a lot of “Freinds” haven’t seen them all winter. And I know they are getting together. My son Dosnt realize and I don’t say an anything. I am happy he has fake friends at least

AlwaysGrateful

Thu, May 09 2024, 10:22 am

How old are the younger siblings? Any chance you can get one of them interested in something he likes? Like if he likes to play board games with you, might be worthwhile to teach a younger sibling to play a couple of his favorites, even if it takes a little while, so that they'll be a good playmate for him.

Other possibility is to arrange playdates with his friends, even if they don't live nearby. Inconvenient, I know, but sometimes you can make the arrangements around dh's minyan schedule or around an errand you have to do in that neighborhood anyway.

And then there's the whole "It's not bad to be bored" thing. Let him know when you'll be available to spend time with him, but that until then you'll be doing X. Then do X. If he wants to hang out near you while you make dinner/wash dishes/do homework with another kid, that's fine, as long as he is behaving appropriately. If not, that's fine, I bet you can find something exciting to do. He'll moan about it, but you'll be surprised what kids can come up with when they're truly bored...