3yr old DS insisting he's Batman

[steviesmith]

DS has been pretending to be Batman for at least a month now. It was quite funny at first but is getting a bit ridiculous. This culminated yesterday in him getting absolutely furious when I used our real names on the phone rather than Batman and Wonderwoman (my own secret identity.)

Should I continue to indulge him or stop calling him Batman? He starts preschool in January and has already said he wants everybody there to call him Batman.

(Incidentally he has no real idea who Batman is; his Batman can fly, fights baddies with a stick and gives good children presents.)

It's a difficult one!!! I have two boys and they are in turn Quazi from The Octonauts or Superman, Spiderman, Diego, or Ben 10. I think that superhero stuff is part of their growing up. I would probably advise you to let him watch one or two television shows about other superheros, he might 'diversify'! We love the Octonauts on Cbeebies, they are not superheros but they 'save' and 'rescue' sea creatures in trouble. It's funny and has a couple of 'scary' scenes that my kids love (it's not scary really). We also love Go Diego Go, he is an animal rescuer. We watch Ben 10 once a week only, but 3 is a bit young for that program. DS1 had intented an entire world about Ben 10 before he saw the show on telly.

My DS1 (5) says to everyone that I'm a spy.

Oh and I know a little who will not step out of his spiderman costume (the one with the tummy muscles) even when he goes to church!

I'm interested, I too have a troublesome 3 year old who's incredibly stubborn about things.
I suspect the answer will be to indulge them as it's normal 3 year old behaviour but if I'm honest I'm getting really p'd off with the behaviours that I found funny or cute a few months ago. I also take on board that a lot of my frustration is due to other peoples comments (and some days I just don't feel thick skinned).

I don't for a second think that you'll end up at a science fiction convention whispering "one to teleport" into a compact to your teenage son (and believe me I have seen this ) but I have no advice.

I hope someone else does!

Bump!

P.S. Please reply or I'll just keep bumping this the live long day!!

He actually loves the Octonauts and will sometimes be Batman pretending to be Captain Barnacles. But that just makes my head hurt.

Good to know I've got years of this ahead me.

I wouldn't worry about pre-school. I think it sounds rather sweet, but I don't have to live with it. I think I'd probably say he could have some part of the day when you would play Wonderwoman and he could play Batman.

And I like the idea of letting him watch other superheroes. I remember finding a Spiderman and Superman DVD that was suitable for young ones (ie. not scary).

Ha! My son was like this at that age. He called himself Rodney (from the film Robots) and spoke with a very weird Welsh-American accent. He grew out of it. :)

(by the way, can you not say that you need to use your real names as aliases because Batman's identity needs to be kept secret outside his own home?)

My 7 year old still insists we call her Hannah (as in Montana) at home.. gets bloody annoying!

Ds was Benny the Builder at that age. He hated going in my car as it is only a two seater - so no room for his workmen. Much preferred grandma's car as plenty of room for them - he'd get annoyed if she shut the door before they all got in. He spoke in different voices depending on whom he was. No problem at nursery etc.

He is now 6 and teaching a class of 15 in his bedroom. He leaves someone else in charge whilst he is at school.

He has had imaginary friends and pretended to be different people since he was 2.5. He is now 6.5 and it shows no sign of stopping. His invisible friends and his different names tend to be pretty quiet at school fortunately!

I wouldn't worry and enjoy it whilst it lasts.

My DS was Sportacus for months and months when he was three. He'd wear that bloody costume everywhere and do all the moves, including push ups. I was even mad enough to wash his outfit at night and make sure it was dry for the morning. I think going to pre-school encouraged him to develop other interests (I also said he wasn't allowed to wear the outfit for pre-school, which probably helped him stay out of character!)

He will grow out of it, honestly. My DS is settled at school and happy to wear his school uniform. Although now he pretend to be buzz lightyear, star wars people, ben 10 ...

Thank you all. At least I know I'm not alone. None of my friend's children seem to be quite so stubbornly imaginative.

I'll try the idea of not revealing our secret identities.

I think it is rather nice actually even if others (with less imaginative dcs) find it odd. He probably won't still be doing it when he is 18, if he is then that's when I'd start to worry!

I meant to say I like the sound of your DS MollieO. I am inspired to wear my Wonderwoman identity with pride.

At that age my son spent months being the beast from Beauty and the Beast, and would only respond if I called him 'Beast'... embarrassing having to call it down the aisle at Sainsbury's. It passes.

My DD is 3. She has decided she is her dolls mummy and therefore I am granny and DH is granddad...she insists we call her mummy too...and she calls us granny and granddad lots....

At least he's human, my DS was a duck at that age, and at it's height would only speak in quacks,

This thread has brought back happy memories! My DS was Henry the Green Engine for about a year at the same age as your dc. He would only answer to henry and having a drink was "Taking on water" etc. Now that he's a hulking 18 yo (with NO interest in trains) it just makes me smile

Another 3 year-old who is Quazi from Octonauts atm. He's nearly 4 now and his characters are not quite so all-consuming as they were a year ago, when I'd go into his room in the morning and say 'Good morning ds2' and he'd say 'I'm not DS2, I'm Noddy/James/whatever'. Every time we went out in the car he would spend most of the time saying 'You see that BMW? I'm that'. 'You see that digger? I'm that'.

My DS used to insist we called him Barbara, I would've preferred Batman!

My sister insisted she was called "Thomas" for month at about this age. Not even inspired by "the Tank Engine", just because she preferred it to her real name. I'm only 3 years older than her so I can't remember if she was pretending to be a boy or just wanted to be a girl called Thomas.

DS (4) has, over the past year, refused to be addressed by any other moniker than

• Peso (the penguin - what IS it with The Octonauts??)

• Chick

• Velociraptor

• Puppy

• Baby hedgehog

• Spiderman

And various others that escape my memory at the moment.

Obviously, he will not answer to just any of these names - it depends what day it is. And no, I dn't get any advance warning about how he'd like to be addressed on any particular day, just a huffy silence if I get the wrong name and an overly-patient 'My name is Nemo....'

Having said this, he always answers to his real name happily at preschool and is a very sociable and outgoing little boy. I wouldn't worry too much, just go with it until he tires of it.