10 year olds?????

[emmadines]

Ive invited him to do activities making etc and at snack time I have alos invited him to join but he refuses, we've done the make your own lunch but very little partisipation.


any suggestions will be greatful
x

[merry]

Ten year old boys I know like Lego, Magnetix, football/basketball,board games, K-Nex, computer games, anything Nintendo or Playstation, watching TV. Is this a mindee? Is he new? Could be he feels like he's too old to be going to a minder (especially if he's the oldest one) and is just being awkward, one of my friends has one like this and his Mum has said if he won't join in leave him to sulk, he'll just have to get over it!

[Pipsqueak]

give him some responsibility - like helping you. 10 year olds like to think they are pretty independent.

never mind the lego and the like, often they love the baby toys!!! lol

[angeldelight]

Why dont you ask him what he likes to do

Angel xx

[Pipsqueak]

Why dont you ask him what he likes to do

Angel xx

Remember to communicate in single syllables or a sarcastic drawl though - grunts are normally understood as well lol

[LisaH]

I've had a couple of 10yr old mindees in the past. They do tend to feel a bit embarrased about having to have a 'childminder'!!

Having said that one of mine who left when he started high school turned up on my doorstep this afternoon to see how we all were!! Bless him, i thought that was really sweet.

[sarah707]

Best left to do his own thing... tv, computer, game boy, book, lego, football

[Cazz]

No experience yet with childminding but I have 10 year old twins and my son would not be interested in doing art & craft stuff at all - his interests (in order) are playstation 2, football, playing with wrestling figures or reading wrestling books, watching tv. His twin sister, however, loves arts & crafts and she also likes to feel that she is being helpful.

I think it's quite a tricky age - hormones kicking in and they don't want to be treated like young children anymore but they're not mature enough to take responsibility for some things - that's my opinion anyway. Suppose it depends on individual 10 year olds but he sounds quite normal to me, as Sarah says probably best to leave him to decide what he wants to do.

Carole x

[emmadines]

Why dont you ask him what he likes to do

Angel xx

I did! all I got was x box, wii, ds etc etc lol

i should have expected that really lol

[Rubybubbles]

the 8 yr old I look after is like this, but funny enough
on Tues (yesterday! ) only him and my dd to pick up due to afterschool clubs for my ds and other mindie and din't have lo's he sat and played with ben 10 figures whilst she had the barbies together really nicely! I thought that was sweet of him, I agree to the fact he hates being with a childminder and walking with me, and been seen with me walking and having to STOP at roads how horrid am I!!

[emmadines]

the 1st time I droped him in school I said to him " right I will see you tomorrow afternoon. meet me in the year 2 classes."

his friends started giggling "arrr you got a babysitter"

I did laught. I have promised that I wont make him wear a hi-vis vest wtih my logo on!
He assured me that he would walk perfectly so he dosent have to wear it lol

[Helen Dempster]

Pipsqueak is spot on with her advice. I actually have a 10 year old son, and it's like getting blood out of a stone if you should ask him what he wants to do...you either get "dunno" or just a grunt - it's true!! I've found with him, that if he's taken out of his comfort zone and put with people he doesn't know (he was recently invited to a party and he only knew one person in 10) he is very quiet, very subdued, didn't want to join in etc. He's normally very sociable and extremely street-wise (scary!) In the end, he did join in (mainly nagging on my part) and actually really enjoyed himself. I would say just keep gently encouraging this boy, but don't push it too much as he'll just dig his heels in. My son's got so many toys of his own, but as Pipsqueak said, they do love the babies toys! He's often playing with something my 2 year old has (esp the garage). A few of the things he does play with though are Lego (firm favourite, and he spends hours making all sorts of things!), cars, and you've obviously got your telly/DVDs/playstations etc, but you may not want to go down that road if he's a mindee, as he'll probably just withdraw further! My son does like helping with things - eventually, and likes to feel needed and given some degree of responsibility with certain things. Can the boy help with the smaller ones somehow? I wouldn't suggest changing nappies though, cos he'll just look at you as if you've gone stark raving mad (tried it!) LOL.
If I can think of anything else I'll give you a shout hun.
Hels xx