Q: My son is 7 and half years old. He is good in his studies. But I am worried about his behaviour. I feel he is hyperactive. He does not have friends. He makes friends easily but when he plays with them, he starts something wrong and thinks that it is also a part of the game and loses them. It seems that he is not able to control himself. He can't sit quietly for 5 minutes. His class teacher also says he is restless. But when he watches TV, he can sit for hours. But if I watch another channel, he becomes restless. He becomes over excited when guests come over. He is obsessive about food and thinks about food all day. During breakfast, he asks what will be in lunch and dinner. He has a good diet. If I don't give him something to eat, he becomes violent. We go out for lunch/dinner once a week, but he wants to go out daily. Even when we are out in the market after lunch or dinner, he says that he is hungry and creates a scene in the market. Please advise.

A:Your query was incomplete and I am not sure what help you intended to ask for. If family routines for mealtimes had been established from childhood perhaps he would not have developed an obsession for food. Since you have given no other detail about the members of the family and his interactions with them, I am not able to locate the root of his eating obsession. You must get him interested in some active sport, where he can expend his energy and also excel, after a few months. By now he should have started reading story books. There must be more activities to occupy his time. Shopping and eating at restaurants do not constitute a suitable leisure time activity for children of seven. If you are not able to convince him that there are more worthwhile things to do than wait for the next meal, and to get him started on some new physical activity, try and consult a Counsellor or Psychologist, who will guide you on how to proceed.