Eric Williams
November 18th 03, 04:42 PM
....damn original subject line eh?
....anyhoo...
Hi, I'm Eric, single dad in Colorado. I have a 7 year old and a thirteen
year old (both boys), and I'm just in the beginnings of divorce (long
overdue).
My 7 year old has no problem whatsoever entertaining himself. Of course,
here in CO there is so much for us to do that we do many many things
together, but when dad needs "me" time, he heads off to his room to
read, build legos, etc. etc.
My 13 year old, on the other hand, totally lacks this ability. His
comments EVERY weekend are "What are _WE_ doing today". Granted, we do a
lot together (and I do mean a lot, so it's not like I'm trying to avoid
him all of the time!!), but again, dad needs his "me" time (even once a
quarter would be nice). No matter what I say or do, this boy is always
around, always wanting to do something...no ability whatsoever to
entertain himself.
He has a lot of friends who live in the neighborhood, and when he goes
out to play with them they ALWAYS end up back at my house, bored, and
sometimes just stand there staring at me...waiting for me to do something.
I'm not insensitive to his needs, I realize that he misses his mom, and
we are in a new town, but damn...I've never seen anything like
this...24/7/365, "What't the plan for this afternoon?" We've talked
about it and I'm going to try to get him into model-building, since it's
time consuming and something he can occupy himself with when we are in
the house during the winter months. I'm scared though, since he usually
gets frustrated easily and gives things up quick, once again running to
me for something to "do".
Does anyone else have a similar situation? If so, what do you do about it?
Thanks,
Eric in CO
....anyhoo...
Hi, I'm Eric, single dad in Colorado. I have a 7 year old and a thirteen
year old (both boys), and I'm just in the beginnings of divorce (long
overdue).
My 7 year old has no problem whatsoever entertaining himself. Of course,
here in CO there is so much for us to do that we do many many things
together, but when dad needs "me" time, he heads off to his room to
read, build legos, etc. etc.
My 13 year old, on the other hand, totally lacks this ability. His
comments EVERY weekend are "What are _WE_ doing today". Granted, we do a
lot together (and I do mean a lot, so it's not like I'm trying to avoid
him all of the time!!), but again, dad needs his "me" time (even once a
quarter would be nice). No matter what I say or do, this boy is always
around, always wanting to do something...no ability whatsoever to
entertain himself.
He has a lot of friends who live in the neighborhood, and when he goes
out to play with them they ALWAYS end up back at my house, bored, and
sometimes just stand there staring at me...waiting for me to do something.
I'm not insensitive to his needs, I realize that he misses his mom, and
we are in a new town, but damn...I've never seen anything like
this...24/7/365, "What't the plan for this afternoon?" We've talked
about it and I'm going to try to get him into model-building, since it's
time consuming and something he can occupy himself with when we are in
the house during the winter months. I'm scared though, since he usually
gets frustrated easily and gives things up quick, once again running to
me for something to "do".
Does anyone else have a similar situation? If so, what do you do about it?
Thanks,
Eric in CO