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Parenting

Why is my son mothering his toys?

51 replies

slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:24

DS got a 'George Pig' for Christmas and he's been 'taking care' of him all day! Patting him on the back, sitting him on an imaginary potty, making him cups of pretend tea, telling him he's a good boy...

Is this a developmental stage? Why does he need to do it? I'm just interested to hear if anyone else's children do this? DS is 2.2 btw.

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Hulababy · 25/12/2012 18:26

Very normal behaviour and also very sweet too. He is in role play mode and copying what he sees you doing

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:29

Now this is very silly of me, and certainly teaches me a lesson, but I didn't expect it because he's a boy.

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xkcdfangirl · 25/12/2012 18:33

Not "mothering" - but "nurturing" - seriously do you want the next generation to be as disconnected from their emotional selves as the 1950's? It is absolutely fine and normal for both genders to role-play in this way. There was a time when half the children (the ones with a Y chromosome) were bullied and shamed out of this, but thank god we are mostly over that now. It won't turn your boy into a girl to be allowed to play in this way. My son did this a lot mostly between the ages of 2 and 3, after which he became a lot more vehicle oriented without any external pressure to become so - it's alway jut a phase unless you deal with it in such a way as to give him hang-ups about it.

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GoldenGreen · 25/12/2012 18:35

I love this stage. Ds still does this with some of his soft toys and he is 6.6. My favourite of his "mothering" behaviour was when he copied me bf his little sister - he was four, and would even burp his teddy and change sides!

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KnittingChristmas · 25/12/2012 18:37

What an incredibly sad assumption Sad.

My boys are both incredibly nurturing and caring - towards their toys and younger children.

They have an amazing role model in their dad.

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zeeboo · 25/12/2012 18:38

Is this a serious thread?

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poachedeggs · 25/12/2012 18:41

Does your husband never parent your son?

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:43

Er... Ok then!

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Pochemuchka · 25/12/2012 18:44

My son is 22 months and going through exactly the same stage. Looking after babies and household chores. He's spent the whole day playing with their new kitchen, his new vacuum cleaner, mop, dustpan and brush, tea set etc as well as his sister's my little ponies.

I am really enjoying this stage as it's really cute and I'm sure it's all down to my wonderful parenting and he'll make a great equal partner Grin

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:45

And I never said it wasn't ok for him to do this; I just expected it a lot later. It's very nice, and I never suggested it wasn't normal Hmm

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Tee2072 · 25/12/2012 18:45

Wow. Not just slatternly but stuck in 1952...

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:46

poche DS has had a new kitchen as well; it's fab he loves it! He's patting his George and stroking him on the back, and it's so lovely to see. I just wondered if it was an actual developmental stage.

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:47

You don't have to contribute if you don't want to Smile

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blossombath · 25/12/2012 18:50

Xmas Grin at poche's breastfeeding son swapping sides, what a lovely image!

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poachedeggs · 25/12/2012 18:50

I didn't expect it because he's a boy.

This is the bit which caused all the Hmms. It's seemingly his gender, not his age, which surprised you.

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:51

It's lovely Grin I thought he'd be much older before he wanted to nurture, as we don't have any other children and that's where I thought he'd get it from.

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:53

I didn't really get myself across properly, sorry.

He's just quite competitive with other children atm, and doesn't have siblings so there's nothing for him to copy.

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 18:54

And poached I'm happy to stand corrected. It's all a learning curve, isn't it?

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fanjobiscuits · 25/12/2012 19:01

Am so glad most of the other posters have replied in a similar vein to me. My first thought: that's parenting not mothering. Second: how is this worrying behaviour? Surely better than playing with toy guns etc?

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 19:03

I never said it was worrying behaviour, and it certainly wasn't implied!!

I asked if it was a developmental stage to mother/nurture things because he hasn't any siblings.

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Sirzy · 25/12/2012 19:04

Your first posts did come across as if there was something wrong with a boy being gentle and caring.

Ds is 3 and did a lovely tea party for mickey mouse last week!

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 19:08

sirzy I certainly didnt mean to come across that way Sad

Just interested, and wondered if anyone else had similar experiences/nice stories. That's all.

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KnittingChristmas · 25/12/2012 19:08

You explicitly stated in your 2nd post that you were surprised at his behaviour because he was a boy! You seem to be back pedalling fast!

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slatternlymother · 25/12/2012 19:11

And I said it taught me a lesson knitted!

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xkcdfangirl · 25/12/2012 19:57

Hey guys, cut the OP some slack, it's christmas, lighten up.

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