Sooo

I've been wondering.. How do you teach kids to learn to play together?

My 9yo stepson is really annoying to kids he plays with, and he doesn't understand why people don't like playing with him.

Like everything needs to go his way or he throws a serious tantrum.

He doesn't have much experience playing with others because - as he says - he's on his ipad 6 hrs/day when he's at his mom's house. (he plays until the battery is dead and charges twice a day) it's summer holidays at the moment so no school.

New kids can kinda deal with it because to them he seems confident and in the lead, but kids that know him well (like his brothers, cousins and friends' kids) just refuse to play with him because everything always needs to go his way, up until the smallest detail as to where person a must be positioned and person b must be positioned... It's not fun for them to never be valued for their input or to play a game they want.

I worry about it because obviously it's not fun for him or for other kids and he seems to be kinda depressed about it, but when I explain to him why it happens he's just like "ok but I'm not going to change because I am who I am".. So he's not exactly willing to learn from experience or input in the moment or afterwards.

He has been tested and is neurotypical. (to be absolutely complete)

@Katelyn

That's a really great idea! 👍

DH and I got together when he was still a baby but he'd now definitely old enough to help cook.

We're also going geotagging tomorrow so that would be a good opportunity to try and work together.

His brothers aren't interested in coming though unfortunately.