2 year olds obsession with baby shark - is it normal?

[Arabiannights01]

My DS has been obsessed with this silly shark for well over 4 months now and it is really getting me down.

I know this sounds ridiculous and probably quite humorous but is it normal for a two year old to be so obsessed with something?

He sings the song over 3x a day. He asks to watch baby shark multiple times a day and he sees sharks in everything.

I am worried that A - I am not exposing him to enough. Although, he knows all of the animals and has lots of toys etc. B - I am worried that this could be a sign of some kind of developmental issue. I have looked up Autism and he shows no sign of that so I don't know what it could be.

And yes...I am so sick of hearing it over and over and over and over!

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Jannt86]

Ohhhhh that shark has a lot to answer for I reckon it's perfectly normal at this age to want repetition, especially of songs or books/rhymes. If it's doing your head in though then just set a limit of how many times he can hear it in a day and divert him to something else. In the absence of any other signs I wouldn't worry that it's a sign of any issues

[Jannt86]

PS the invested interest in any one thing I think is also quite normal. My LO is currently obsessed with circles I think I'm hearing 'circle there' about a thousand times a day and as thrilled as I am that she's learned something so clever it's hard to act quite so exicted the thousanth time...

[InRainbows]

I was literally about to start a thread about obsessive 2yo behaviour. These things seem so worrying and it's hard not to think there is something wrong so I am completely with you in feeling concerned!

Mine was uncontrollably sobbing when I stopped singing 'hush little baby' in a nursery rhyme book, he was frantically scrabbling for the page it was on and crying so hard so I decided just to sing it back to back until he fell asleep, I must have sung it 20 times!

[AladdinMum]

Toddlers are prone to obsessions all the time, it is actually very normal. Some will last three months, other six months (or longer) but all will eventually pass once they find their 'next obsession'.

[Jannt86]

Yes I have sung my 21MO to sleep or calmed her down with Lavender's blue or twinkle twinkle loads of times . I honestly think it's normal in 2YO. In a 10YO it might be more of an issue (and even then probably not especially a sign that anything is hugely wrong) but at 2 I'm pretty sure it's developmentally normal

[Arabiannights01]

Oh- phew! Thank you so much for your replies, it's so reassuring to hear.

I will try to tolerate the shark a bit better! And yes, I forgot to mention the tantrums when I won't let him watch/listen to it or buy him anymore shark stickers. He actually saw that we drove past the shop that sells the baby shark stickers the other day and had the biggest tantrum when I drove past it!

I am trying to move the obsession on to dinosaurs...currently not working but I'll keep trying!

Thanks ladies.