Learning a Hard Lesson Young

My 7 year old learnt a hard lesson today in the school playground.

Recently 2 events have occurred which lead up to this hurt:

1. He was given an XBox for Christmas. This is something which I personally hate with a vengeance – kids are meant to use their imagination to play in my opinion as there is plenty of time for them to become coach potatoes in their adult lives
2. He discovered, and got heavily into, collectable sports cards

These 2 things have definitely had an effect on his social skills. He pores over the collectable cards and has got into the habit of taking them to school where he becomes mobbed as he gives away his duplicates. I think he thinks that this will make him popular but doesn’t realise, not surprisingly aged just 7, that he is actually being taken advantage of. And when he isn’t doing that he is desperate to be on the XBox.

Today we said “no cards”. He was a bit sheepish in the playground but was encouraged by his mother to go and play with some friends. He was belittled which made he very sad as he is a sensitive soul. I suspect that his recent behaviour at school has isolated him from his friends who are not so enamoured of these cards.

He needs to reconnect with them. We need to help him do so without embarrassing him or making him feel even worse than he clearly does now.

This is a hard lesson learnt young.