Stephanie Report post Posted September 25, 2006 Hi We have been through many obsessions and interests. Colours Numbers Letters & Words Mr Men Certain Books Picture Dictionaries and Thesaurus type books Flags Countries Capitals Composers Dates & calendars Monkeys Planets & Space Certain toys etc etc Now he is into his computer more and more - he messes about with Art Studio's and Microsoft Word. I have not subjected him to any kind of playstation etc yet because he is only 5. I am trying to keep that for when he is older - I know that inevitably the two will meet one day! I just wondered what is next. He has a pattern of learning about a subject until he can not possibly learn anymore and then he moves on to the next. I never know whether or not it is a good thing to stop him learning about a subject or not. What are your kids into and do you encourage or discourage their special interests? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheNeil Report post Posted September 25, 2006 No kids but I obsess. Running has been the big one lately (suprise, suprise) but before that it was Silicon Graphics computers, Sun computers, The A-Team (shaddup fool), 50's-60's space missions (how sad), WWII codebreaking, computer history and, of course, the ever present Apple Mac obsession (as my lack of office space shows). Having written that lot down I now feel like a right geek/nerd As a child I obsessed (mainly Star Wars and Lego before being introduced to the wonderful world of silicon chips) and I think my parents were happy to let me bury myself and adopted the 'well he's happy so why upset him' philosophy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jb1964 Report post Posted September 25, 2006 (edited) My daughters 13, Tots TV, Dinosaurs (& anything egyptian) Disney films - lots of them (especially ones with lots of music) - and musicals (Sound of Music etc). Pokemon/Digimon, Harry Potter, Lemony Snickett, Various history topics - started off with egyptology (wanted to be an archeologist), also anything to do with the romans/tudors, horrible histories etc. Since around 5yrs - PC/Various consoles - games started with Spyro and moved through various games - and also Neopets (web-site). Currently: PC/Console orientated: (Sims/Harvest Moon/Phoenix wright) and PC - animation thingy (not sure what this is but she's been on and on about having some software package (flash? something) that costs about �200!!!!) Drawing: Manga style. TV/DVD: Simpsons/Futurama & Family Guy and anything to do with Japan. Take care, Jb Edited September 25, 2006 by jb1964 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted September 25, 2006 Our eldest dd, 8, tends to stick to a few favoured things. At one point it was Pokemon, she wouldn't play with anything other than this, talk about anything other than this and her friends used to get quite fed up and this lasted a long while. At one point she broke off this obsession temporarily when she became very interested in snails, and had some form of snail collection in the front garden in various containers, boxes etc. She tended to them religiously. Then she moved onto dogs, specifically black laboradors, and would only be interested in pictures, books, toys about this type of dog. Now its TY's.......which is great because the charity shops are FULL of them She has began to give her Pokemon things to her younger sister....who has now taken up this obsession where our eldest left off Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baileyj Report post Posted September 25, 2006 Max (5), has obssed with... Thomas the tank engine and other engines, carried Percy round with him for a year, did everything with Percy in his hand Pingu cartoons Numbers Toy Motorbikes Mr Men books Now its the PC, Looney tunes site games, cbeebies site, Mr Men site Simpsons PC game Gameboy - anything with racing games Nintendo DS - anything with racing games Playstation - again....racing games His absolute favourite at the moment are toy cars, particularly Disney Pixar Cars, he is Lightening McQueen, and I'm Sally, and Dad is Mater! He enjoys them greatly, and acts out games, and crashes, and fixing etc, and really loves the RAC Breakdown advert at the moment We tend to let him enjoy his obsessions, particularly when he is very agitated or nervous, as its his safe haven and calms him down. The difficult part is prizing him away from them, else he would be doing them 24x7. When he was younger, his numbers obsession helped him with stressful situations, we would count how many steps to so and so, or if he wouldn't eat, we would count the number of things on his plate etc. I think what we see as obsessions, to Max are just wonderfully interesting, safe hobbies. Hope that helps Jo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lynden Report post Posted September 25, 2006 (edited) Logans mostly around around TV atm! Awful eh?! Peppa Pig, Thomas and Spot are all time favourites. Thomas and Spot he loves anything to do with them, DVDs, books, pictures. He loves anything that spins too so his spinning top is a huge favourite, as are his cog/gear toys. Edited to add washing machines - in our house, my parents house, anyones house where he can get access to one! Oh and I'm probably way up there on his list of obessions! Lynne x Edited September 25, 2006 by Lynden Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mum22boys Report post Posted September 25, 2006 With DS1 we have had... vacuum cleaners tractors diggers the bible electrical wires playstation games and at present.....the war, particularily air raid shelters!!! DS2 is not so bad.........tractors with trailers me anything blue is the current one. and no doubt there will be many more to come mum22boys Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lil_me Report post Posted September 25, 2006 (edited) Still Sealife, but also taking a big interest in Dinosaurs (mainly ones which lived in water) Toys as such still Transformers, magnets, blocks etc and anything he can spin round like his plastic snake etc. Edited September 25, 2006 by lil_me Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LizK Report post Posted September 25, 2006 Adam's enduring obsessions have been to do with doors and numbers. He's loved doors since he was 10mths old and has progressed from randomly opening and closing cupboard doors to running through automatic doors at shops to now trying to figure out how the automatic gates at school work! Numbers have been a great love to the point where he used to watch the counter on the DVD rather than watch the actual programme Other obsessions have been more fleeting. We've had Balamory and Come Outside - still into these Planes CD player - a variant on doors Drinking to make wee wee! The computer He is currently very interested in power cuts since they had one at school in July and watched an episode of Balamory about it, will talk quite randomly about it and also the moon and stars. He also is very into music at the moment. We tend to go with him over his obsessions and interests. For one thing he enjoys them and indulging an obsession is a way for him to relax if he's had a stressful or busy day at school. We have bought him a digital kitchen timer so he can watch the numbers count up and down or use it to time things. For another they mostly tend to be a passing interest so are not forever and often he learns quite a bit through them so we can sometimes use them positively. Numbers and doors are great motivators and can be used to get him to do a variety of things he otherwise wouldn't. Occasionally his obsessions have got very overwhelming making him withdrawn and aggressive, remember he got like this when into the PC so we do try to limit them to a degree in those situations. He is only allowed to run through the doors at Sainsburys once when I say too as he risks becoming a pest and likely to knock someone over. Otherwise if they are not harming himself or others we don't really do anything. To my mind his obsessions are part of his autism, he is always going to be autistic so will always have obsessions and to discourage him not to indulge them seems a bit mean. Liz x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KarenT Report post Posted September 25, 2006 Star Wars. Raven (CBBC prog, dh calls it 'It's A Knockout for Goths') Star Wars Back to Robot Wars again (just as I'm about to change his bedroom to Star Wars) The Future Is Wild (tv prog about predictions for how life will evolve on earth) Star Wars. Chess. Oh, and Star Wars. Karen (aka Qui Gon Jinn) x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullet Report post Posted September 25, 2006 (edited) Tom likes numbers, blocks and shiny painted (usually metal) surfaces like cars, railings and windowsills. He also likes pressing buttons and putting toy train tracks together. I like counting to a set number, then starting again one number up and so on, or counting multiple of numbers. Also 1940's or earlier detective stories (primarily Agatha Christie), DiscWorld novels and Dr Who. I also enjoy learning about pre-Norman Conquest England (or what is now England). Those are the interests I've had for years, more current obessions are parenting (when motor milestones are etc) and ironically Aspergers. Although probably not ironically because once I find out about something I tend to research it to death. Edited September 25, 2006 by Bullet Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smiley Report post Posted September 25, 2006 What are your kids into and do you encourage or discourage their special interests? Transformer mainly! I don't discourage obsessions, they can be used to my/schools advantage. M had lots of Transformer type work last term, and my little transformer pal has helped me on many occasion, lol! M's obsessions can be used to involve him in something else, or to branch out and encourage other interests (we've managed...science, english, maths, literature, RE etc, etc all from his obsession. I've also used them within his visual reminders as it keeps his attention for longer. He can become very obsessed with the computer (can't all boys!) and we do have a limit on the amount of time spend on any one thing if it begins to interfere with everyday life. Generally though, my son's obsessions are enjoyable to him - and as long as they aren't upsetting anyone, and he has some variety ........ i tend not to worry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lindyloo Report post Posted September 25, 2006 (edited) Star Wars. Raven (CBBC prog, dh calls it 'It's A Knockout for Goths') Star Wars Back to Robot Wars again (just as I'm about to change his bedroom to Star Wars) The Future Is Wild (tv prog about predictions for how life will evolve on earth) Star Wars. Chess. Oh, and Star Wars. Karen (aka Qui Gon Jinn) x Sounds very much like Luke (or should I say our young padwan learner) His current obsessions are Star Wars toys Star Wars DVD's (all 6 films plus the 2 Clone Wars cartoons. He will watch them continuously - although he gets very upset if he watches them in the wrong order) Any Star Wars games on his X-box or Game boy Star Wars books Star Wars comics. In fact - just about anything Star Wars. I have discovered the best way to drag him away from his toys to go to school is to tell him he is off to Jedi School. Don't know what we are going to do with all the Star Wars stuff we have aquired when this obsession finishes Linda Edited September 25, 2006 by Lindyloo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxgirl Report post Posted September 25, 2006 What are your kids into and do you encourage or discourage their special interests? Lego, Lego, Lego, Lego, Lego, Lego and ................................... Lego. I try to encourage him to do other things because he gets so obsessed with Lego that when he's having a problem with a model and it isn't going right and he doesn't feel like Legoing anymore there is nothing else for him to do and he can walk around in circles crying because he has nothing else that interests him, but he doesn't want to Lego, etc. etc. It can be a real problem sometimes. ~ Mel ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullet Report post Posted September 25, 2006 Oh my goodness, I used to LOVE lego as a girl. For years that's what I'd ask for my birthdays. I loved making things with it and I had lots of the little people (the ones with the yellow bodies ) and they all had to have names ending in "y", so there was Billy, Bobby, Freddy and a host of others. I think my parents forced me out of it when I got to about 13 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joshanddanfans Report post Posted September 25, 2006 we have 2 boys, both had number of obsesions 5 year old= spongebob squarepants thomas thetank diggers water/taps making inventions digging in mud blood dr who/daleks playstation colour blue, only eat off blue plate, wear blue ect symmetry, everything around him has to be symmetrical or he moves it rocks/stones/sticks collections toy story number patturns 7 year old = spongebob squarepants steam trains hornby railways colur red liverpool f.c especially stephen gerrard and dudek dr who playstation football games hisrtory sabes,swords,toy guns goalkeepers daleks draughts/game Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
forbsay Report post Posted September 25, 2006 (edited) My son's current ones are:- National express buses Skylights Lighthouses Playing lifts Playing buses Hot Air balloons Africa Dolls' houses Peppa Pig Forbsay Edited September 25, 2006 by forbsay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KarenT Report post Posted September 26, 2006 Sounds very much like Luke (or should I say our young padwan learner) I've used the padwan learner angle a few times too. The best result I ever got from homework was with me being Obi Wan and J being Anakin and I was teaching him. Then we'd get Masters Yoda, Windu and Qui Gonn (Ok, so he was dead by then...) to mark it but we'd do it in Yoda's voice. I've never seen J cooperate so well but it only lasted a couple of weeks then he got fed up with it. That's the trouble isn't it? There are so many things you can try but they usually just have a limited shelf life then you're back to square one. Karen x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheNeil Report post Posted September 26, 2006 (edited) Can I just point out how useful a Star Wars obsession can actually be. Not for me you understand but for my mum. Looking after my brother's 5 year old son the other day he was awestruck that she knew all of the characters and understood 'the force' - apparently grandmas shouldn't know stuff like that Edited September 26, 2006 by TheNeil Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stephanie Report post Posted September 26, 2006 May the force be with her. Lordy, I hope mine steers clear of all that! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niki Report post Posted September 27, 2006 OOh let me see now triki's obsessions of the hour are STAR WARS TRAINS STAR WARS TRAINS STAR WARS TRAINS STAR WARS TRAINS STAR WARS OH AND YES TRAINS!!!! after all that there's not much room for anyhing else really. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
