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I have two boys, aged eight and five. As a thirty-six-year-old woman, my interests rarely align with theirs. Kids, unfortunately, aren’t always great at picking up social cues. Their passions can be intense, and those interests often monopolize our conversations. This means I spend nearly all my time pretending to be captivated by whatever it is they’re obsessed with. Someone should give me an award for my acting skills! I’ve mastered the art of appearing engaged while mentally drafting my grocery list or planning my next writing project simultaneously. It’s quite the skill.
Neither of my children possesses the ability to be casually interested in anything. When they latch onto a new hobby, it becomes an all-consuming endeavor. We’re on that ride until they decide to switch tracks. My oldest son’s first big obsession was elephants, which began before he turned two.
He played with elephant figures, watched documentaries, and snuggled up with stuffed elephants at bedtime. While elephants still hold a special place in his heart, we’ve since navigated through various interests. He was captivated by marine mammals for a time, then moved on to African savannah animals, ultimately landing on dinosaurs, which have now been his true love for several years. Since he was five and a half, it’s been all dinosaurs, all the time—dinosaur birthday parties, educational podcasts, a massive toy collection, and even a few real fossils.
We’ve even turned his obsession into a lesson about boundaries; he has to check if it’s a good moment to share his dino knowledge before launching into a monologue. This has worked out reasonably well—well, sort of. I often find myself listening to him enthusiastically explain Sarcosuchus while I’m getting ready in the morning. But at least he asked first!
When a friend’s son introduced him to Minecraft a few months back, I felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe we could get a breather from his dinosaur fixation? Not quite. His growing brain seems capable of juggling two obsessions now. Instead of moving on from dinosaurs, he’s simply added Minecraft to the mix. So now I’m also learning about creepers, withers, and diamond swords alongside Protoceratops, Utahraptor, and Tuojiangosaurus—that’s a real dinosaur, by the way. It can get a bit overwhelming.
But there’s no need to worry. An article I recently read on LiveScience reassured me that, “In some cases, [an intense interest] is just enjoyable. It’s [just] something they like,” explains Judy DeLoache, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia. “It’s perfectly normal. There isn’t anything weird about it.”
As for my second son, he’s fascinated by letters and numbers. He taught himself to read out of sheer love for letters and moved on to counting and breaking down bigger numbers into smaller groups. He adores complete sets and carries around “five sets of five” magnet tiles and all the characters from Blue’s Clues in a makeup bag I gave him.
Fortunately, my oldest son’s intense interests have prepared us for his brother’s focused enthusiasm on his favorite topics. This kind of passionate engagement is pretty typical among autistic kids, and our younger son is on the spectrum. We firmly believe that autism isn’t a tragedy—an ASD diagnosis is not bad news, and neurodiversity adds richness to our lives. We embrace these intense interests in our household, and it has worked well for both our neurotypical and autistic child.
According to Smart Parenting, “being fascinated with a ‘conceptual’ topic like dinosaurs has been linked to better attention spans, deeper levels of information processing skills, and increased knowledge and persistence,” as shown in a 2008 study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Indiana University. This is great news for parents like me, whose children are relentless in their quest to become experts on whatever subjects they’ve chosen!
Encouraging your child to develop an interest and actively seek more knowledge about it can be incredibly beneficial. It fosters skills they’ll need as adults and boosts their confidence. What child doesn’t love feeling like an expert and teaching their parents what they’ve learned?
When your child’s intense interest feels overwhelming, it can be mentally exhausting. How can one small brain contain so many facts and never tire of sharing them? But the good news is, you won’t actually suffer any harm from absorbing a few too many dinosaur, horse, soccer, video game, or geology facts (I’ve checked). So, chances are, we’ll get through these phases relatively unscathed. Hang in there, and remember that this obsession likely won’t last forever. And if it does, your child may just be laying the groundwork for a future hobby or career!
For those interested in early diagnosis and understanding autism better, check out this insightful post on early diagnosis. Additionally, if you’re exploring options for home insemination, this comprehensive guide can provide valuable information, and Healthline offers excellent resources regarding pregnancy and home insemination.
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Summary:
In this article, we explore the phenomenon of children developing intense obsessions with certain interests, particularly in the context of parenting. We share personal anecdotes about the author’s sons and their various passions, emphasizing that such interests are normal and beneficial for cognitive development. The piece highlights the importance of supporting these interests, especially for neurodiverse children, while reassuring parents that such phases are typically temporary and can lead to valuable skills and self-confidence.
Keyphrase: children’s intense interests
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