I'm Dr. Laura Schlessinger, welcoming you to our YouTube channel where I get to answer questions [points to self] and you can see me do it:
"We have a 10 year old son who is very immature (he has an older sister, 15, and a younger brother, 5). He tends to be a homebody, is not interested in organized sports, and LOVES video games. We have always limited the amount of time he can play video games. The more he plays, the more obsessed he seems to become with them. [That's pretty typical.]
He tends to be lazy, and we are constantly pushing him to do his best in school. He has chores, and we have recently added more, hoping that will make him more mature and responsible. [(Laughs) I'm sorry, that's funny. Let's see, he's not doing an inch so we'll give him a mile.] My husband has also been teaching him how to play chess [Oh good!], which our son loves! [That's nice.]
I've noticed that when the neighborhood boys play together, they leave our son out. He also has poor social interaction with other kids of both genders.
How do we help our son be more mature and responsible?"
He's ten years old and he's a male, which already puts him behind the maturity of a female at the age of ten. He's an introvert and you're probably not going to change that. But he can go to a chess club and start competing in chess with other kids and adults and that would have him being more social in an environment in which he feels competent.
He's not going to be like your other kids. He's a different animal and instead of trying to change him, you have to maximize what he does have. And if you can find a ten-year-old boy that, on his own, cleans his room, I think we've been invaded by aliens.
I'm Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Until next time on our YouTube channel.
