DS8 is so intense that he does every single activity that he wants to do to a very high level. He has been into certain sports, music and chess since he was 4 and he is now at a really high level for his chronological age in all of them. We have a lot of asynchronous development going on as well. Add that to a double grade skip, other activities like after school clubs, orchestras, competitions etc., he is beginning to feel pressure for the first time in his life. And he is unable to keep juggling and looking like he is under control of everything. He is the kid to whom everything came easily - he used to have meltdowns if we asked him to slow down or drop something from his schedule and declare that he knows that he could handle it and be awesome at it. We let him continue if he wanted to. He has come to a standstill in most of what he does - including academic progress because the complexity of everything has jumped up and he is unable to handle it all. He is slowly learning that he is not Superman and has human limitations and this week dropped a sport in which he was advanced and had played for 4 evenings a week for more than 4 years. He is thinking of dropping one of his after school clubs as well. In a way, it is good that he is learning the lesson that overextending oneself will lead to burn outs. I am also secretly glad that I am not the bad guy who made him stop activities that he was good at.
But, it is sad to watch a kid good at something drop it after years of hard work because he has no time to devote to it any more. I am going to take him to a local lego event that he will enjoy to make up for his disappointment at himself. Don't know how to deal with an intense child even after all these years.
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