Perhaps Jimmy's spoiled by parents over parenting to their own detriment.

Or perhaps the kid's on the spectrum/whatever and they're desperate to find anything that works for them until he finds his happy place taking pictures of trains.

I have a hard(er) kid and then an easy one. The experience for daily life examples such as yours is night and day.

Having a strict routine sucks for the reasons you mentioned but it's a fantastic coping/management strategy compared to a possibility significantly worse existence.