For kids who become easily bored or have difficulty focusing on an activity for a long period of time, the challenge can arise with peers about sticking with something.

Sticking it out, even when you don’t really want to do so, is an important skill needed to keep your friendships.

Actions such as leaving a game before it’s over can have a negative impact on relationships with peers. Leaving them hanging, so to speak.

So too, is the problem of trying to multi-task when you are playing with a friend or friends. Frequent reminders to come back to a game or that it is your turn can be frustrating for the other players to repeatedly give.

What if you are playing with a friend one minute, and then they are gone the next. Playing something different with someone else, without ne’er a goodbye or “I’ll be back.”

Sure, the best thing to do is to stick with it. So we worked very hard on having all of the players finish a round of Wii bowling the other afternoon, just to practice this skill. I commended the players who didn’t want to stick it out for doing what they needed to do.

Worst case, if a child really is not yet ready to tolerate sticking it out, we work on exit strategies, such as letting the other child know that you just feel ready to do something else, finding someone to substitute for you in the game, or declaring an “automatic winner” if someone decides to quit.