Preschoolers Pretending to be a Baby
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Preschoolers Pretending to be a Baby
Nov 2002
Almost every day, our 3 year old daughter wakes up and says ''the
little baby is awake. Come get the baby!'' One of her favorite
games, which is repeated many times most every day, is ''I'm a
little baby - pick the baby up - the baby can't walk - the baby
doesn't know how to talk,'' etc., etc. Is this obsession (for
lack of a better word) with baby-ness common? Sometimes it's a
tad tiresome - I want to relate to her as a 3 year old, not as a
baby, but she can get very upset if I say ''You're a big girl -
can you please walk to the kitchen?'' But I don't want to make a
big deal out of it either, especially if it's, as they
say, ''developmentally appropriate.''
michael
My 2.5 year old girl has been doing exactly the same thing for
the last three weeks. I thought that maybe it is a way to get
attention, since she sees that little babies get a lot of
attention. Or maybe it is just that she is learning how to
''pretend''. She also likes to pretend that she is a little puppy
or a little doggie or a little cow and insists that we pick up
the little dog, pet the little dog etc. So far, I have just
assumed it is a phase that she will outgrow soon enough
Gen
if it is any consolation, my 2.5 year old likes to play ''baby.''
all if a sudden she will say ''lia baby'' (in a baby voice) which
means that suddenly, she must be carried or put down for a
pretend nap or baby-talked to. it is funny in retrospect, but
she also gets upset if i tell her that she isn't a baby.
anyways, i just go along with it for a little while and then she
ends up playing something else. i think it is just a phase.
suzie
My 3 yr old son is also playing this '' game. '' I thought it
was because he sees how much I enjoy my one year old
nephew. Then I read this: ''Around 33 months of age,
many children go through a stage of reliving their
babyhood, of thinking about themselves in terms of their
own past. The child may pretend that he is a baby, even
going back to the use of baby talk, though some are loath to
give up their glorious acquistion of speech. So, a child may
say, ''I'm a little baby. I can't walk, I have no teeth, I drink
froom a bottle. But I can talk. However, by Three, most
have caught up with themselves chronologically and are
now in a state of equilibrium and of no longer looking
back.'' (from Your Three Year Old, Friend or Enemy by
Ames and Ilg.)
So I try to go with the flow and give him a little snuggle
and then go about our business.
jen
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