A Hard Lesson to Learn...

Ben is learning some hard social lessons these days, and though I feel bad for him, I know in the long run, learning these lessons early and learning to read people and navigate social situations will save him heartache later on... he is SO much his daddy sometimes.

All he wants to do these days is play Star Wars. Yes, we are still knee-deep in Star Wars, Phase III. He wants to build Star Wars things out of Legos, play the SW Lego Wii game and run around outside pretending he is in Star Wars.

He also thinks everyone else has the same mindset. For the life of him, he just can't seem to grasp that not EVERYONE is into Star Wars... and that even though some people are happy to play it with him sometimes, they also like to play other things. Seriously, it's a TOTALLY foreign concept to him. You should see the look on his face when I am explaining that sometimes his friends like to play other things... he truly doesn't believe me.

Last night, outside with his neighborhood buddies, he was absolutely distraught because his friends wanted to play a number of things besides Star Wars. Soccer, baseball, pretend train, golf and pirates. All wonderful and noble children's outdoor activities. Ben? Dead set on Star Wars and utterly offended that everyone was not following him around to get their assigned Star Wars characters and play their parts. There was no mean spiritedness about it... It wasn't that they didn't want to play with HIM, they just didn't want to play his game.

He was so upset at one point that Tom had to bring him inside to get it together. Even when I went to tuck him in last night, he was still talking about it. "No one wants to play Star Wars. They think Star Wars is BORING! WHY do they think Star Wars is boring?! John only likes to play baseball and Trey only wants to play FAMILY. I HATE playing family."

I suggested that perhaps he should TRY what his friends are playing and then maybe they would try what HE wants to play. And that getting angry at his friends and crying isn't going to make them want to play what he wants to play. He pondered that for awhile and then ruminated some more on "How could they think Star Wars is BORING?!"

LOL. Poor kid. He's a passionate/intense kid and a born leader, he just needs to learn how to lead without dictating... I don't feel bad saying he gets this from his father. ;)

I did tell him there was one person who would NEVER get tired of playing Star Wars and that's his daddy. And with that happy thought in mind, he snuggled up in his pillow and went to sleep.