<p>He is way too old for punishment and for rehashing his earliest accomplishments, IMHO. Email your H. Move forward in your thinking. You all need to realize that the punishment is if he doesn't get unstuck, he won't have a life as a young man, an age he's much closer to than when he learned to read. I don't mean to sound harsh, really, but this sounds like you are both stuck as parents. It doesn't matter any more what he did in kindergarten. He's a h.s. graduate, a bright one, no need to convince us of his brightness. How long does your H want to support him, until he's 30? WIll he be attractive for anyone to marry? Try those q's on your H to get him out of his fog. Sorry for the bluntness. Consider family counseling rather than sending him alone to counsel. That way you acknowledge that all 3 of you are in a pickle. Maybe the counselor in a few sessions can get him off the couch. If you can put youir arms around each other and say we just can't get past this, let's all 3 go get a professional advisor, mabye it'd be more productive than either sitting around fretting more, or suggesting only HE needs help as an earlier poster thought. Nobody knows who's right but if the famiily counselor thinks private counseling is warranted, well okay then. All I'm hearing is 3 adults who can't move forward and are holding each other back. I'm usually not this unkind, so sorry if it feels that way. We all "get" about his giftedness. It's his great tool but for the moment, irrelevant to his next decision. He may be leagues deep intellectually but right now it's in the social and emotional realm that he's too stuck to even move.</p>
<p>If you can afford it and your son is willing look into him doing a NOLS program. It has nothing to do with computers. He will be out in the wilderness for at least 30 days with no computer but it will give him great growth. I have seen many boys resist this type of program and come back thanking their parents for sending them.</p>
<p>actually, the 1 hr of physical activity per day is not daunting to him, we just added that to his list of things, to think more about. AND wait until ski season, he will be skiing 3-4 days a week with dad. Oh, and today, his giraffe unicycle arrived*! I hadn't mentioned THAT one yet...unicycles...and he does ride his fixed gear bike all around town for transportation, when he's not glued to the computer.</p>
<p>p.s. sorry to rant earlier about his "gifts", it does make me feel better....thank you all.
* his own money by the way.</p>