I've found out what hell is is and it's your kid wanting to play pretend ALL the time

[cabb]

Dd is 2yr5m, is very outgoing and sociable and has never been able to entertain herself but I've kind of accepted this now, but her latest thing is playing pretend and it's ALL she wants to do.
Shall we play bricks? No, be the mermaid!
Shall we do some drawing? No mummy be the mermaid!
How about some puzzles? BE THE MERMAID

Oh god, I mean I actually don't mind doing a bit of role play but it's definitely the most draining and pre 9am and after being up in the night with her little brother it's really hard to throw myself into the acting required to BE THE MERMAID.

AIBU?

This is hilarious. Sorry OP, for laughing at your misery.

Honestly, I wasn't even good at role play when I was small. I felt like the only girl who didn't know how to play with dolls. 99.9% of my brain stayed fully aware that we were playing with inert lumps of plastic. I couldn't give them voices and make up an imaginary life for them. I just played along, on the outside looking in, like a little psychopath.

I have to be a pony for hours on end and be ridden around the kitchen. What I would give to BE THE MERMAID...

Knowing my luck, she’d probably decide that you can ride mermaids too!

Yep... "no, dinosaur! Help mama, dinosaur roar! Flying dinosaur!"

I feel your pain. My DD is 5 and we now have 2 favourite role play scenarios:

1. Vets. It doesn't matter how man

Oh god... so glad I’m not the only one.
He’s 5 now so the instructions are reeeeeally complicated now. And wow betide me if I forget the slightest nuance!

Whoops!

...how many times I heal / comfort / resurrect the animal, it NEVER gets better. This game literally goes on forever.

1. Unicorns, alicorns and ponies. I have to be "Princess Sparkle Mane" and "trot gracefully" around the house.

Even if I'm busy, I can "still be the character" apparently. 😫

YANBU

We alternate between superheroes, ninjas and “normal people”. It can change when I’m not looking.

Never mind coffee. GIN.

I love playing pretend, especially with little plastic people. What I don't love is being told what I am going to say, do, think etc. NO DD MY PLAYMOBIL PRINCESS IS NOT GOING TO SAY THAT EXACT LINE AND FALL OVER SHE'S GOING TO ELEGANTLY DANCE AND SING, STOP CRAMPING MY STYLE!!

We clash alot while playing pretend.

Argh. I feel your pain. We can be doing normal stuff like shopping or dinner and all of a sudden the volcano erupts and I've got to switch the acting skills on. I've stopped being embarrassed about jumping and "avoiding lava" in public places.

And oh yes pugwall the ultra-dead creature!
We have those too. Sort of the opposite of a super power I guess

I think the thing about pretend play that a lot of parents struggle with is that there are no rules and no end. I find that gp’s seem to have a lot more patience for it as they’re not asked so much. I’d try and give 15 mins to play enthusiastically then have something else to do. It brings kids a lot of joy! And if you’re not sure what to do let them completely lead. It’s good for them to be in control and ime they are happy to basically play the whole thing themselves with you as a prop/company (hence the going beserk when you go off script!).
And be glad they have such a good imagination and flexible thinking. One of my children who has asd would point blank refuse role play and wouldn’t pretend to drink from the play kitchen for eg as there was nothing in the cup and it was hard work to get him to learn how to pretend play. There are tons of benefits to pretend play if you look it up. Kids tend to have less tantrums for eg when they can’t have a toy if they can create an imaginary game where they have it. And they can play at different roles which increases empathy. Kids who pretend play a lot tend to be nice well adjusted kids.
If you have friends with similar aged kids then inviting them over will give you a bit of a break as well.

Nice to meet you all. I'm the Queen (and sometimes the Maid) from 'Little Princess'.

Top Gear role play sounds like the most horrific kind of pretend play ever!!!

It was like being in an endless improv theatre production of Chekov with a tiny teaset

Fucking howling at that!!

It was like being in an endless improv theatre production of Chekov with a tiny teaset.

You have to look on it positively that you're all doing an amazing job of raising children with fantastic imaginations rather than dulling their senses with technology.

I am so fortunate that my two are very close in age so spent hours playing schools together and didn't have to involve me. DH is also very long suffering and still plays this bizarre game of "parties" with DD (who is now 7 - she must grow out of it soon), where he's invited to her party but doesn't know the address and has to knock on every house in the street - she plays all the parts of the people in all the other houses. DS (9) still loves dressing up and fortunately has another child of his age in the street who also does and they spend hours playing Star Wars.

It's all great mental development particularly as I don't have to be involved

Ooops cross posted with Lana - obviously we have the same sense of the ridiculous.

Here it's less pretend play and more constant hide and seek my dd has been obsessed with it since about 18 months old and she's four now. At least she hides in more interesting places now. I get a lot of tears when I find her when I didn't even realise we were playing

I think it'd be the end of me if I had to be Jeremy fucking Clarkson.
Ewwwwwww.

Suddenly grateful for the constant demands to be the bad guy in power rangers, or a transformer, or more recently, ghosts.

"Mummy be Jeremy Clarkson" are surely the words no mother ever wants to hear.

My kids both have autism so never really did the role playing thing.

For that I am grateful. With their rigid adherence to How Things Should Be I would have bollocked endlessly. It was bad enough when I accidentally nudged a car out of line.

Flippity

Although pp has reminded me that when dd does pretend play it is very often a party! She'll spend hours preparing for a pretend party, cooking, outfits, invitations,game preparation, balloons, decorating...but we never actually get to the party bit!

Oh god. This thread should have a trigger warning.

In our house it was months of "let's play schools. I'm the teacher. You sit there mummy. NO NOT THERE. YOU SAT ON PIGLET"

Now she's 16 and GCSEs are looming. I might go and wake her up and make her play schools and I'll be the teacher

My kids both have autism so never really did the role playing thing.

I got the short end of the stick then

DD has autism and loves pretend play. We mostly re-enact scenes from television and god forbid I get a line wrong.

The hours and hours of my life that I am never getting back, lost to being Doc Ock. I do not miss those days. Thank god Lego came along and gave him a new hobby. I'd even get the Playdoh out over role play, and that stuff is the work of the devil. Stay strong.