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1. Don't always encourage ds to be as unique as possible. (he's going to be out there anyway, he doesn't need to be super-duper out-there completely beyond reach... Hard to swallow, but I sort of see the logic. This was in part regarding ds in ballet, ds interest in things like medieval swordplay rather than baseball, and so on.
GS9 loved those things, still does, but does not mention that to other boys. What a shame.
2. Consider letting him have a Nintendo DS (dsi). That hand-held game system that is taking over all the 7-14 year old brains in the u.s. We got one, immediately ds said something like, 'great, now I'll fit in better'. Seriously, he does fit in better.
In addition to being a conversation starter/continuer, he has a lot more stuff to think about on his own, and doesn't pester people to death, at least not so often.
....
I came to that resolution this past month. GS will get a DS for his birthday this year. There's an old joke about a kid so ugly that the parents had to tie a bone around his neck to get the dog to play with him. The Nintendo DS will do the same thing to attract other kids, but at least our kids will also get fun from playing with it. GS picks up those games very easily, I wish he could earn a living playing them!
