Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Should I be concerned?

I keep thinking this is a phase but it's been going on for about 4 or 5 years now.

Our ds12 is obsessed with history, war, weapons and world domination. On one hand we're thrilled that he has taken such an interest, but it's all he can talk about.

Our daily drives to school are filled with bits of trivia about battles, what kind of weapons they used, who made them, how they were made and how (fill in the blank) tv show was inaccurate. It was cute when he was 7 but five years later I'm growing weary

We don't discourage his enthusiasm but his sister will often yell at him to stop talking about war.
Do your children have one area of study they obsess about? How do you handle it?

I inflicted cosmology on my parents. I have no idea how they handled it.

Maybe you should see if he can come up with a way to fight a land war against Russia and actually win.

Maye we should get our kids together. OTOH, maybe not. They'd only need to find one more to wind up with a triumvirate...

If he has an obsessive interest that he talks about even when people have asked him to change the topic, you might want to rule out Asperger's Syndrome. Make sure whoever evaluates him is familiar with both AS and giftedness, and is familiar with the material in this book.

@JonLaw: if I do challenge him, I'll have to hear all about it. We've all stopped playing Risk with him. What was I thinking when I bought that game?

Anyway: he will change the subject, but begrudgingly. And then we're on to socialism, Che Guevara, Marx, Stalin and oops, we're back to war. He does have other interests; he plays basketball, soccer and lacrosse, loves football, raises chickens.

For years he said he was either going to rule the world, complete a hostile takeover of microsoft or fund his sister's presidential campaign. (What is it about these kids and world domination? DH and I are such slackers.)

Now he says his goal is to be a corporate lawyer.

ETA: Aculady, he has been screened for numerous disabilities and asbergers didn't come up.

Really glad to hear that Asperger's has been definitively ruled out.


My son (who is also contemplating a possible career in law) says not to be fooled, that "corporate lawyer" is only being considered because it would be highly instrumental in laying the groundwork for achieving all the other goals.

Bwah hah! We definitely should NOT get these two together. I suspect that this too is DS's motivation behind his new interest in being a lawyer.

Mine (7 & 8) obsess in 4 to 6 month intervals.. I've gotten use to it now, were getting close to changing subjects again so I'll be interested to see what the new obsession is , currently it's littlest pet shops , but it's what they do with them that's interesting, they write, film, direct, download, edit little movies with the pet shops it's the cutest thing..
we've gone through everything from rocks,planets, environmental issues, dinosours/fossils, and so many more ....I feel like I'm getting an education just by what they get interested in..

DS4 goes through cycles too. They can last for any amount of time depending on when he feels he learned enough for now. It can be frustrating to constantly hear about the obsession but I am also really enjoying the lesson.....:-) Right now it is ALL about geography. The slightly annoying thing about it is to constantly be quizzed and the fear of not getting the answer right. CAN be a bit irritating to get corrected by a 4 year old....

It is perfectly fine to set limits on your participation.

Is there any possibility you could find him some kind of mentor or kindred spirit? It might be a grandpa in the neighborhood who shares an interest in military history or perhaps a historian? There are a lot of people who like this stuff.