Encouraging an obsession

I see nothing wrong with it, assuming the kid still eats, drinks, sleeps, and gets her school work done. I was obsessed with dogs and horses as a kid- I read only books about them (the school librarian actually told me I need to learn to read fiction after I told her we needed new horse books because I'd read all of them already!), on vacation I wanted to see horses, I played with model horses and stuffed dogs and pretend games about horses and dogs, I was always begging to go to the pet store or the tack shop. As an adult (20 years later!) when my family goes on vacation, I ask for pictures of native horses or dogs from where they are going. I play an online game about dogs. I go out of my way to visit horse and dog shows, and stores where they sell horse and dog supplies, even if I don't need any. And I still read about them constantly. Its turned into a career for me- I taught riding for several summers at a camp, and now I work in the pet industry. Being focused on this one interest has not been detrimental to me, indeed its helped me in many ways. I think your friends child is likely fine.

As the parent of a train obsessed child, I don't see a problem with it. We support his interests, and although there is some variance, trains has been a big constant since he was about 2 years old (he'll be 5 next month). It doesn't impair his learning in other areas or social/emotional development so I don't have any concerns. To me it is no different than the kid who has to collect pokeman type things, etc. Besides, what the alternative be...to discourage her passion and hope she started liking something else? Why would you want to discourage it if is isn't causing harm elsewhere in her life?

I suppose some would see what we do as encouraging my son's "obsession" when we buy him endless workbooks, go on endless walks to watch traffic signal countdowns (it's not a trip to San Francisco if we don't watch some countdowns, no matter how cool the Academy of Sciences is) play endless math games on the driveway with chalk and on and on. He's been enthralled with numbers since he was at least 2 years old and still is at 6. It's led to him adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, pre-algebra, and unit conversions already. So be it. It's what he loves, it's his passion. There are times when he won't take an interest in something else something "normal". Unless or until he can figure out how counting or math works into it. He had no interest in cooking and baking until he realized that you could do conversions and had to count measuring cups and there was math involved.

Yes, some things developed slower because of this but he's at a point now where he's decided it's worth while to catch up on those things so he can be a bit more like other kids. Though quite honestly, I don't want him to be too much like other kids. His number obsession and his genius at mathematics is what makes him him. I wouldn't change it for the world. I wouldn't want to squash that part of his identity.

My oldest (age 14) has always been obsessed with things. From the ages of 2-6 it was trains. For the last several years it has been lego Bionicles and Transformers. He makes *amazing* stop action movies with them - they take a lot of time and dedication. He is a bright, social kid with a huge interest in cultures and history, be they human or Bionicle.

Quote:
Einstein didn't have an obsession with math. He hated math and did poorly in math classes. His math teacher told him he'd never amount to anything.

But he did have Asperger's.

encouragement from parents is fine and it would develop self-confidence in kids too.