Titanic - normal for six year old?

[Ohgoonthenillhaveanother]

Hi all my son has recently decided he’s interested in the Titanic (historical event not the movie). He’s 6 and I wondered if this is a normal interest for his age? He’s not obsessive about it/will happily pick it up and put it down but he is quite interested in reading about it and making up games about it. Has anyone else had this with their child or anything similar? He is NT as far as I know. AIBU for thinking this is a bit odd or am I overthinking it? Anxious first time mum

Thanks for the heads up but sadly we’re in the south west so would be a bit of a trek. Sounds fab though, enjoy!

Mine likes deep sea creatures, and tsunamis

Aren’t they funny little things? Is your child NT?

Mine is 6 and goes through phases. Currently it's how mummies were made, in detail. Prior to this, the Black Death, Great Fire of London, a bit about Henry VIII's wives... And the physics of how high you can fall out of a plane/building and still survive (Vesna Vulovic). It is normal and he is NT!

I was pretty obsessed with Henry VIII around that age, especially his marriage to Anne Boleyn.

Id like to think I turned out ok. Haven’t beheaded anyone yet.

He's probably just a normal intelligent boy.
Encourage his interests.

My son loved {and loves as a young adult} museums and visited the Titanic Museum in Belfast - encourage him and enjoy being with him- the modern mania for diagnosing ND is off the scale.

Some kids can be intelligent and into stuff without being pathologized.
A friend's brother was obsessed with geology as a tiny child- he got into top London private school on a full bursary and went to one of the best Universities to study - no one suggested that he would be ND.. he is just a wonderful man.

Two of mine have been obsessed with the Titanic from about 5/6 years old. We’ve visited the museums in Orlando and Belfast with them as they were desperate to go when we were on holiday there!

Yes, one of mine had a Titanic obsession. Also sharks- actually she is still quite into in sharks at 19 😂 She has ADHD but I have known loads of NT kids with obsessional interests- particularly with things that we adults might worry would be too distressing for them. Look at Horrible Histories- they understand that many children enjoy true stories that are shocking/gruesome/spooky.

Fun with Flags

Oh the Eyewitness guides were so revolutionary! they seemed so fresh and wonderful - I still have some that I can't bear to give to a charity shop.

Oh yes! I still have megalodon fossil teeth kicking about from son's shark obsession

My DS was invited to the 4th birthday party of another boy at nursery a few years ago and he had a Titanic birthday cake too! I have to say I did think it was very odd at 4. But a bit older, not so much - I always found it very interesting too.

Sounds normal. My son is also 6 and was into natural disasters at one point. We had to watch loads of YouTube videos on it and I had endless questions. Not sure how that one came about, I think they were doing something at school.

Lol
Would love a chat to see what they learnt.

It’s part of history and it’s encouraging him to read. I wouldn’t put him off. There’s worse stuff they could obsess over.

Certain things really capture your imagination around that age. I was obsessed with the Bermuda Triangle around that age or maybe a bit older. Like to the point where I wanted to go there to investigate it myself. I think I was convinced it was an entry to some sort of Narnia or other parallel world, I spent ages thinking about it!

@Ohgoonthenillhaveanother

Sometimes I do think we are giving labels to normal human traits, kids can't be shy, have different interests or be more physical than academic without a label being thrust upon them.

One of my DD's is an engineer now, she liked building things as a kid! Also liked ships

It will be a cute and quirky tale to tell when he’s older ‘hehe remember the time you had an obsession with the titanic’. It’s very interesting tbf

It sounds quite normal to me.

This subject is covered in schools at that age, so he has probably picked it up from there.

I was OBSESSED with Pompeii and historic volcano eruptions, and loads of other things. Normal for all children (neurotypical and neurodiverse).

My DS was obsessed with flags at that age. The most NT boy ever. Very useful in a pub quiz now! And football stats and remembering faces from films.

Certain things capture their imagination at that age and it's perfectly normal. Take him to the exhibition in Belfast. It's fab. My son at the age of 6 was obsessed with the musical Oliver, and workhouses.

He asked Santa for a Lego workhouse. Santa couldn't find one so he had to settle for a street urchin costume instead. He's not ND

yes - mine was (tho not the titanic and not just one thing) they have just been diagnosed as ND. I dont think you can attribute having one interest as ND tho... people seem to want to attribute everything to it these days... your child just sounds like he might have an interest in something they were potentially doing at school etc?

I learned about St Kilda when I was 7. I've had a real interest in it ever since. Something about the story of it just clicked with me.

I'll get there one day - I've seen it on the horizon but I haven't got there yet!

..and yes, I'm NT!