Normal 5 yo behaviour? ...or just plain dirty?

[Reginaphilangy]

My 5 yo dd really is quite disgusting at times. She does the 'normal' 5 yo things such as picking her nose and eating it [ewwwww] and spending endless hours in the garden making 'mud pies' and slug food (don't ask) BUT lately she has done some things that i just can't see other children doing!

She was playing next door when one of my neighbours cats brought a dead mouse in - my neighbour screamed and i went to see if all was ok. My dd was chasing the other children round the garden with the bloody dead mouse!!!

She collects bugs and gives all the slugs names. Nothing to bad about that except she keeps bringing the sodding things into the house!!!

If she drops a sweetie on the floor she has picked it up, wiped it on her coat and has eaten it before i've had chance to finish my sentence "No its dirty, don't eat the ...."

She has also been known to lick the soles of her shoes [vomit], stick pens up her nose then bring them down and lick them [puke] and pick up a piece of fluff and chew it to see what it tastes like

There are a million and one others things that she does that really make me want to throw up but no amount of telling her that it will make her poorly will make her stop!!
She actually was violently sick after the sole-licking incident

So please tell me - is this normal???

And more importantly - how do i make her stop!

[lilacbloom]

She sounds a tom boy to me, what about a reward chart. I would ignore the mud pies and bug/slug collecting and even the dead mouse, (have anti bac hand wash though) but as for the snot picking/shoe licking, can't you talk to her and explain that it is not nice, and explain you will be doing a reward chart.

[ThatBigGermanPrison]

It all sounds normal to me. And she will grw out of it.

[Reginaphilangy]

Lilac - she's not quite a tomboy i don't think. She loves to climb trees and play footie and get really really mucky! She has lots of friends who are boys too and gets on really well with them, BUT, she also likes dolls, her favourite colour is pink, she loves anything sparkly and her best friend is a girl.

A reward chart may be worth trying - thanks
Not sure i can ignore the dead mouse thing though

TBGP - But when will she grown out of it?? When? When? WHEN? Tell me she will grow out of it next week because she grosses me out! LOL

[Mamazon]

DD is 3.11 DS is 7.11

Ds is scared of spiders so DD picks them up and chases him around with them.

she is constantly filthy and will often take her shoes OFF to go play in themud.

she is pure filth most of the time actually.
but she loves it, its harmless (well in the main) and she is having fun.

stock up on anti bac and roll with it

[Bowddee]

You don't think your DD is a tomboy? You've just described my DS!

[Reginaphilangy]

OMG tmmj!! My dd IS Bertie!!

[Mamazon]

don't despair.
Dd is just like Bertie but she also loves fairies and glitter and princessy things...and would love some lelly kelly shoes (they are one boak too far)

when she gets older she will be teh girl all other girls envy. friends with all the boys but still feminine and wonderfull

[Reginaphilangy]

Yep Mamazon - she loves spiders too

I hate them with passion, so do dd1 and dh so we shout dd2 to come and get rid of them for us

Am stocked up high with the anti-bac the problem is how much she gets up to in the garden that i don't know about - eeek

[Reginaphilangy]

They sound very similar Mamazon - dd would burst for a pair of the dreadful Lelli Kelli's

maybe i could bribe her away from the shoe-licking, hmmmm .....

[Reginaphilangy]

LOL at her being like your DS Bowdee, maybe she is a little tomboyish

[Overmydeadbody]

she sounds like a tomboy, definately.

It is all fairly normal. She will grow out of it as soon as she discovers boys.

[solidgoldbrass]

Eeew! I mean, EEEWW. Not your DD's fairly natural interest in dirt and bugs and stuff (many kids go through this phase, some of them grow up to be forensic pathologists) but the idea of anyone using the word 'tomboy' in the 21st century or being glad that their DD likes pink glittery crap.

[Overmydeadbody]

She sounds very tomboyish and you sound in denial!

My DS is 5 and doesn't do most of those things!

[HonoriaGlossop]

aah she'll be fine. Apparently there's a saying, You're going to eat a pound of dirt before you die....your DD is clearly just trying to fit the whole pound in to her early years

[Reginaphilangy]

Overmydeadbody - denial is good i find

lmao Honoria, love that ...tis very true

Solidgoldbrass - not quite sure where i said that i was 'glad' she liked pink glittery crap - just pointed out that she likes it ...

[Quattrocento]

Nope, don't recognise any of this behaviour. But it's funny though. She's just being a bit different. That's cool.

[gettingserious]

Maybe she's doing all this stuff because she knows it gets a (probably quite funny) reaction from you? Just a thought. I went through a stage when I was younger of collecting slugs and snails and bringing them home with some vague idea they would be 'pets' or something. Mum never batted an eyelid. I grew out of it.

[Reginaphilangy]

quattro tis not so funny when you're shoo-ing her out of the house with a bucket full of snails! Although at least she left them in the bucket last time

GS yes, you could be onto something there - i'm mortified a lot of the time and go over the top in explaining how the more stomach churning habits will make her ill. Maybe it would be a good idea to ignore it and see what happens

[Reginaphilangy]

Oh dear God - have caught her 5 minutes ago in her bedroom with a bin full of water (and i mean full!) about to wash her hair!


Arrrggghh

She is now playing down here with me where she is FULLY supervised at ALL times ...

She's gonna drive me insane - i swear it!

[ellideb]

She sounds like great fun and perfectly normal to me! Rest assured she probably has a great immune system and will probably never develop allergies!

You should buy her a 'bug box' or an explorer set so she can feed her interests!

She kinda reminds me of me when I was a child! I drove my mum to distraction collecting worms and caterpillers from her Nasturtiums in a Vitalite container, bringing them into the house and promptly forgetting about them, only for my mum to find their rotting corpses several weeks later!

I would love to go exploring in the fields surrounding my house and would come back filthy. I ate the cats food and dog biscuits, made mud pies, caught a live shrew once and let it loose in my bedroom, collected beetles, earwigs and centipedes and put them into my dads workboots. (Almost caused him a nasty accident when he was bitten on his big toe whilst driving!)

So, all perfectly normal, I turned out ok and I have a real appreciation for nature and adventure! Don't worry!