To worry about DS's obsession with doors?

[willisurvive3under2]

DS is 2 in August. He's my first so I appreciate I might be worrying about nothing.

He's obsessed with doors and other things that shut/lock. His speech isn't great so he calls everything a 'door', and he always has to shut them. Gates, lids, straps, you name it. This morning we were making breakfast, he was sat on the counter and started shouting 'door', took me a while to understand he wanted me to shut the lid of the toastie machine.

Is this normal at this age? I'm starting to worry.

Mellissa and doug latches board best toy ever

My ds is the same, highlight of the holiday was the door handles were at normal height rather than much higher as our old house

Barriers here.

Bloody barriers. Totally normal at that age!

My kid is 3y6m and he's still obsessed with doors, but has added keys, buttons and latches to the repertoire.

He’s not even 2 years old! Perfectly normal.

Mine is 18 months and he bloody loves a good door! We have a lot of those child locks on cupboard doors and drawers so actually opening a door was a bit of a rare treat to him until we got a toy kitchen for him. Now he spends absolutely ages opening and closing the cupboard and microwave doors in his kitchen and pressing buttons on his cooker.

I think it’s normal. I still remember being very very young and having the same fascination for doors and little boxes.

DS3 is a little younger than yours and very interested in doors, drawers, etc.

Opening, closing, opening, closing and repeat. Along with putting things in and taking them out.

Normal enough at this age, I wouldn’t worry just yet!

I have a video of my son aged just over a year old, opening and shutting a cabinet door for about ten minutes solid. He'd open the door, look in, shut the door, open the door, look in, shut the door etc etc. And yes if I left the lid off the jam or whatever he'd say id back, id back. Lots of videos end with him saying this while putting the lens cover back on the video camera. He's 27 now and doesn't peer into cupboards constantly now!

Its normal. My DS used to be obsessed with wheels and anything that spun.

Yes, totally normal.

And second the melissa & Doug latch door thing. www.johnlewis.com/melissa-doug-latches-board/p1783068?sku=234151311&s_kwcid=2dx92700028121376916&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1NzZBRCoARIsAIaMwusGtZL8Bfe1808JAvT3oVqhOBwmB-sKPipTPeRQ753nNDZovElzt0YaAnNPEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Just wait until he discovers light switches.

Normal. They have their little obsessions.
I remember the little boy I nannied went through a car obsession. Every time he saw one he said "car" and pointed.
Usually we were on a quiet road, so this was fine. Then we were once walking along a main road and got "car car car CAR car car CCCAAARRRR!!!!…."

Mine was obsessed with clocks, or "COCK!", as he called them.
Anything remotely round and dially.

Totally, completely normal. Two year olds love to obsess about a particular thing, and before you know it, they start obsessing about something else. Stop worrying and just enjoy it and indulge him. This is how they learn!

I don't know OP, if you have a feeling about it don't discount it. I'm not quite sure why everyone is being so lighthearted about it. If you look over the internet, it could mean something, but equally it might not.

Still, having come to MN over the years when seriously worried about my son, I can honestly say its probably the worst place to come for parenting advice. Most posters know jack-shit. On the bright side, no-ones called you a shit parent yet (sorry your post just brought back memories).

Just try and relax and observe things over the next couple of years; I'm sure you will get the bigger picture in time.

Ahhhh, my DN spent 20 minutes today showing me how she could fit in the cupboard where we store the cereal. And if I wasn’t actually staring her in the eye every time she opened it slightly it was ‘auntie Kitty close cuppurd doar’. We have a child lock on it. It was quite tedious and I was almost grateful when we watched Daddy Shark for the fucking millionth time that morning. It’s funny what they become fixated on.

I have 2 year old obsessed with doors too. I second the recommendation for the Mellisa and Doug latches board toy. My son loves it.

My daughter used to insist on opening doors herself at that sort of age. The first time she was faced with automatic doors was interesting.

In a grown-up a fascination like this is called being a scientist.

My DD is 2 and used to be like this too. She still loves clips but not as much as she used to. She does go round closing all the child locks on the cupboard doors though. I did look this up at the time and toddlers find comfort in familiarity, which is why they repeat tasks over and over. It’s nothing to be concerned about at this age.

Urg, I've had 5 years of this!

First DS was obsessed with automatic doors, lifts, fire escapes, buzzers/buttons, disabled access button - going out anywhere was just an absolute ball ache. Every time he saw any of the aforementioned and wasn't allowed to press/enter/exit there would be total meltdown. It came to the point where I stopped taking him to toddler groups and activities because they're always held in venues that have all of the above. Thankfully he's now grown out of it but 2nd DS is now in that exact phase 🤦🏾‍♀️

My DC is the same. Loves doors, gates, phones etc, he's just over 2.

Funny story, one time he managed to drag a chair to the buzzer (we live in a flat) and stand on the chair.

I only realised, he's very quick! When I heard 'Ha..Ha..Haaaa'.

He had taken the phone off the hook and started speaking into it. I just hope no one was walking past getting a fright or the joker

But I would assume, normal toddler behaviour

Another 21 month door obsessive here! Though I think they're being replaced in his affections by stairs/escalators at the moment. Had a tantrum in IKEA this week because one escalator was broken so we couldn't go up and down endlessly

Or thinking it was the joker that was meant to say!

Can I just add that at this time of year, when we often have windows ope, doors can slam more quickly and harder than a child is expecting, and fingers can get crushed

I bought a pack of foam finger protectors on amazon - they were about £5 for 5 and they just push onto the top edge of the door so that it can’t slam shut. When you want to close the door, they just pull off again; takes about 2 seconds.

@tardylardy I'm sorry to hear.

I wouldn't expect medical advice here - none of the posters has met my DS so it would be tricky - I'm just writing to compare notes.

I realise there could still be an issue with my DS but all these people saying their DCs are/were the same make me feel a lot less worried.