Any suggestions??

Question

Ok, my nephew has been living with me and my husband for a year now (taken out of a bad environment) and he was raised to act older than he is, (he will be 11 in may) and he will not paricipate in extracuricular activities. Says they are for little kids. He is to the point where he is lazy and sits around all day, any ideas of how we can get him to be more active or some ideas of what to get him into???? We are very concerned because is gaining weight like crazy......

Answer 1

Ban the TV and PC until a certain time each day,that will hopefully force him t go outside. Maybe sign him up for soccer or football, he may like being on a team. If he is gaining a lot of weight he probably feels bad about it and may even be depressed over it-and then he doesn't want to do anything and then gains more weight. A vicious cycle.  Keep on doing what you are doing. You sound like good role models.

Answer 2

I agree, seriously limit his tv and pc time. Tell him to pick a sport and sign him up for it. Or if he wont go and play then he has to do chores. What about friends he can hang out with. I know my daughter is way more active when playing with her friends.

Answer 3

Convescate the TV & PC. Lock them in your bedroom, until he starts doing outdoor activities.

Answer 4

Make him earn game time by getting him outdoors.  For every so many hours outside or anything involving exercise, reward him with a certain amount of time in front of a game/TV.  Or every so many chores done gets X amount of time on a game/TV.  Just make it clear that no game time will be given for laziness, make him earn it.There are many ways to approach this and modify it to fit your needs, but it can work.

Answer 5

Pack away the PC and ban all electronic things. Tell him for every hour of sport he does he can have an hour of tv. Don't give him a choice on doing an activity but do give him the choice of which one he wants to do. You are the adults and he is the child.

Answer 6

You and your hubby will have to be the example..go outside.. buy a outside game like volleyball or a cricket set...take a day of the week and make it your sport day..play sports outside..this might get him interested in practising a sport at school. The alternative is to get him a dog..he might need something to be his own...he can take it to the park..or for a walk..I think children in a situation like he is, need a best friend to share things with..and a dog is the only friend that won't judge him...Good luck..I admire you for trying so hard

Answer 7

Sounds like you have bought and tried everything and nothing is working so instead try this.  tell him for every 30 minutes he spends outside playing he gets 30 minutes on the pc or tv.  If he doesn't do anything outside then there is no tv that night.  Check with the guidance councelor at the school and see if they won't talk to him, chances are the events of the last year have taken a toll on him and he is suffereing from depression after all his whole way of life changed for him.  Don't demand him to go outside instead give him the choice if he wants to watch tv he has to do something else first.  If you ever get him out and about he will probably start doing more of it.  As far as the wieght get rid of the junk in the house all together so it isn't there for him to eat keep only fruits for snacks.  Good luck but I would definitly check with a councelor over depression.

Answer 8

Don't give him the choice. Limit his PC and TV time. Also, since he is having weight problems limit his snacks and reduce the amount of junk food thats available in the house. Make family time a priority and don't let his pouting ruin it but make him join in anyway. Give him the option of choosing his own activity but make it quite clear that if he doesn't pick on himself one will be picked for him and stick to your guns. He's part of your family now wether he likes it or not and he needs to conform to your rules and regulations not the other way around.

Having grown up in a not so pleasant environment myself, if he isn't already in some form of counceling then you should give some serious thought to getting him some. It can go a long way toward making him want to rejoin the world instead of vegging out in front of the TV or PC.

Answer 9

take him to the doctors and have them let him know that he needs to excercise more and the long term consequences if he doesn't. and if you do the activities with him maybe he won't think that they are stupid.