The DOF seems to have been centered on the flora in the background. Because the boy is not uniformly blurry, some or all of the soft focus may have been due to motion blur. If this is the case, a faster shutter speed would have helped.
This would be more effective if he were in focus and the background wasn't so cluttered. There isn't anything for the eye to be drawn to cause there is so much going on. I'd crop out some of the upper part so that the proportions of the shot are more equal.
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