is my son a 'typical' 7 year old boy...?

[fancyacoffee]

My son has just turned 7 and is and always has been into the 'darker' things in life - i mean, vampires, witches, baddies, guns that kind of thing. Even when he was very young (2ish) his preference was to dress up as a witch, vampire, scary pirate or something similar and these figures are now something he's quite passionate about. I don't know many boys his own age and the handful that I have met seem to be so innocent and sweet - they call their mums 'mummy', smile nicely, willingly hold their mum's hand to cross the road (generally do as they're told!) and are into Harry Potter and superheros - ie not baddies! It's been in the back of mind for a few years now that he is different to most other boys but it's a thought I just can't shake recently and I'm wondering if this is 'out of the ordinary'. Does anybody else have a son like this? Am I right to be a bit worried and make a bigger effort to encourage him away from ghouls, ghosts, dracula, weapons etc..?!!! Thanks everyone, x

[OzzieFem]

I think you are worrying too much fancyacoffee. Those kids that seem to be so innocent and sweet - they call their mums 'mummy', smile nicely, willingly hold their mum's hand to cross the road (generally do as they're told!) and are into Harry Potter and superheros - ie not baddies! are probably right little terrors when mummy is not around.

[fancyacoffee]

Yea you may be right there. perhaps I should have them over for a play date and see the real version. Seriously though, do you think his obsession with unpleasant things is just a boy thing and not a serial murderer in the making? X

[VashtaNerada]

I think it's a child thing, not a boy thing! I've just finished talking to DD about different methods of execution around the world. She found it absolutely fascinating and asked loads of questions! And children are always better behaved in front of other people's parents.

[madamginger]

My 5 yr old and I drove past a funeral procession a couple of months ago. He asked me what it was so I explained, he asked me if they came back as a zombie once they'd been buried

[LilacSpunkMonkey]

My 7 year old announced very recently that 'when he dies Mummy is going to put Sparks (his cuddly dragon) in his grave with him'.

Me:

They're doing Ancient Egypt at school and had been looking at 'grave goods'

[MidnightVelvetthe5th]

My son is like this and he's 10, is writing horror stories about moving dolls and ghosts in mirrors, he's reading the Goosebumps series of books and he's fine but yes he's always preferred the darker sides of things. When he was 6 our world book days always involved him as a death eater or a god of war...he's read Lord of the Rings and it had an affect on him and his games tend to involve murderous figures in black.

But I'm not worried, he's really a very good writer and he is clear it's all fantasy so I've never once been worried that he will be a murderer or some such, he's a kind considerate boy whose interests are just different from his friends.

See it as a part of him, not the sum of him and I'm sure he's a normal lovely little boy and I bet he has a tremendous imagination. Plenty of adults tend to the macabre, our boys have just felt confident enough to indulge it earlier rather than hide it until later :)

[davidcameroon]

Totally normal hence the popularity of Horrible Histories.
We like zombies more than vampires or werewolves here.

[SlipperyJack]

I was a thoroughly ghoulish child - loved ghost stories, gore and gruesomeness. (My delight at age 8 being allowed to explore by myself when we visited the local vair posh boys school on an open day for plebs, and finding myself in the bottled specimens room in the biology lab.... )

I'm more or less normal now. Cry at sad films and dead animals on the road, etc. No tendencies towards serial murder, or indeed murder of any sort. (Though I'd consider an exception for a particular ex-boss....)

[davidcameroon]

My oldest son loved reading the Goosebumps books at that age. They are rubbish but he was a reluctant reader who devoured them.
In y4 he enjoyed Anthony Horowitz horrors like Groosham Grange and the Horrowitz Horrors (short stories) that are written for kids and much better quality than Goosebumps.

[fancyacoffee]

Phew - thanks everyone! i shall allow him to continue with this unusual obsession and worry less about his future. Wine now! x

[BotBotticelli]

Feeling reassured by this thread! My Ds is only 3 but is already obsessed with the idea of baddies and goodies and seems to much prefer/identify with the baddies...!

We recently watched Star Wars (the old film) with him and I was a bit worried he would be scared....but no. He loved darth Vadar. The most of anything. Plays Star Wars all the time now - I always have to be like, he is Lord Vadar and particularly enjoys cutting off my arm with his toy lightsaber 😱😱😱

He also loves watching gruesome natural history programmes - seeing a massive snake eat a whole goat, or an orca devouring a seal pup absolutely fascinates him. He loves it. He has all sorts of horrid toy animals (sharks, crocodiles, snakes, spiders) and plays games where they hunt and eat each other....!

I am kinda worried about it but he also likes more normal things like dinosaurs and racing cars so I figure he will be ok.....fingers crossed.

[BotBotticelli]

*meant to say, I have to be LUKE. As in, sky walker.

I try to encourage him to be Han Solo but he has no interest. It's darth Vadar all the way.

[fancyacoffee]

Yes - it's kinda worrying isn't it? I was reading a news article the other day about the Columbine High School killing - the mother of the shooter has written a book about it from the families pov, asking could she have done anything differently... here - www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/14/mother-supposed-know-son-columbine-sue-klebold.
Anyway, extremely interesting to read but TOTALLY unrelated to our situation! I think it was this that got me thinking! We have lovely, kind little boys! xx

[SlipperyJack]

botbotticelli, Google "giant microbes" for unusual stuffed toys (sorry, on phone and too tired to linky). Hell, I want a cuddly E. coli bacterium!

[madmotherof2]

Are you me?

My 7 year old DS is much the same, absolutely obsessed with Zombies, werewolves, mummies, monsters, vampires etc. He writes stories about them and has even created a fact file on how to avoid being attacked by a vampire

Funny boy!!! I love it, very quirky sense of humour!