Ways to pull 10 year old into the real world

boy scouts?

Sports?

Usual disclaimer, I am not a parent, etc. etc. but team sports in particular would give him healthy interactions with other kids, working toward a common goal.

I was that kid.

Band became my main social crowd. Took up tennis when I was in High School.




What are his other interests?

He won't go for it. He was interested for a few minutes when a neighborhood friend told him about his troop, but when it came time to sign up, no go.

Yeah, he plays soccer in a church league on a great little team with a great coach. He enjoys it while he's out there, but chafes at the time it takes away from his books. He also thinks he's the worst player on the team (he's not) and I tried to tell him that if he spent more time actually playing he'd get better.

I do think he needs more of that free time interaction with other kids, I just don't know exactly how to make that happen.

Harry Potter makes me think something a bit fantastical, or offbeat, like...fencing?

Computers and video games, mostly. In other words, things that remove him from human interaction. No other sports besides soccer, and that's mostly due to my early brainwashing efforts.

So you think he'll just grow out of it? I know from experience that middle school is a bad time to wake up and begin interacting with other people. I guess I see a little bit of myself in him and would like to help him avoid the problems that go with it.

Hmmm, there's an idea. He did really enjoy padded weapons camp.

Got friends with kids somewhere near his age? If so, can you get out and about with them...you know...picnics, adventure playgrounds, barbecues....stuff like that, where the kids all hang in a group and run around?

Any clubs/groups around that he is interested in?

Any sports?

Get out to parks and playgrounds such as a family....I know when I was little, if there were kids anywhere near each other, we'd end up hanging together.

Why not have him join a Harry Potter club. There are some in Atlanta
http://www.meetup.com/Atlanta-Harry-Potter-fans/
He would meet kids there who are fans like him and they discuss the books
and perhaps reenact some of the scenes which would be another good outlet:
he could join a theater group where they play out the Harry Potter scenes.

Are there any age-appropriate computer clubs in your area? Where he'd have to interact with kids near his own age to write simple programs or design a game or something like that? (Help me someone, I have no idea what I'm talking about...)

Yeah, that's what I would like to happen. We don't live near a park and we do live on a busy street, so there aren't kids just hanging around. We went camping last weekend and the spot we picked had tons of kids. It was great! Duckie just ran off with some other boys the same age and they had the best time. I guess I just wish that could happen every day. Maybe that's unrealistic.

Please, for those folks who think they have no idea what they're talking about, keep the suggestions coming. I have no idea what I'm doing and can use all the help I can get.

I'm really considering some drastic changes, like moving close to a park or to a part of my neighborhood where there are more kids.

It's not just Harry Potter he enjoys. He just recently finished that whole series and then swiftly devoured all three of the Great Benedict Society books. He's gone through a 6 book Hardy Boys set, the Eragon series, and countless others.

Hmm there are also non-team sports. Things like martial arts might appeal. The idea of acting -- I think that's a spectacular one.

Would it be too weird to start a kid's book club? I did, at about his age... it deteriorated after a while (stopped talking about books, started goofing around) but it was fun.

What's the playdate situation?

Is he in childcare with other kids at all? (I know you work outside the home, not sure about your hubby.)

That's what we did when my daughter was little - she was roaming around
the neighborhood with built-in parks and playground every afternoon.

Leave him alone. There is a strong societal bias towards extroverts, and he will at some point need to learn to function in a world that is biased, but pushing would not be good for him. Gentle encouragement to be more out going would be fine though.

He's in aftercare with other kids which I thought would help, but apparently he just gets his books out and reads. He has one good friend from his old school that he gets together with every 6 weeks or so, but he doesn't see him on a regular basis.

He does have friends at school that enjoy the same books he does, but they're all girls. That's not in itself a problem, but they tend to go off in their own little groups after a while. Calamity also mentioned clubs, so that's probably something I should look into. Deteriorating into goofing around would be great, from my perspective.