OCD behaviour in 5 year old

[lovesbeingamummy]

I'm becoming a bit worried that my 5.6 old son is displaying ocd tendancies.

He loves order and categories. When we go into shops he has to sort out any items that are in the wrong place. If i try and stop him from doing it he gets really upset and throws a wobbler. The lego shop was a nightmare, he spent ages sorting all the single pieces into the correct display box. We had another incident with Mr Potato Head pieces at Disneyland Paris. All the kids were picking up pieces and chucking them back in the wrong box. He was getting really frustrated and couldn't leave until he had sorted them all.

Is this something to be worried about or is it within the realms of typical behaviour in some kids? He is really good at jigsaw puzzles and i'm wondering if it's just how his brain works or something else.

Mmm, try posting on Special Needs Children board ... there will be parents over there with lots of experience

My DD is the same...she's in year 2 and nothing has been pointed out at school as worthy of investigation.

She's a neat freak...like her Dad!

My 4 1/2 year old is like this, it has never occurred to me that there is anything to worry about. She just likes to tidy and see things neatly arranged. I would have thought the getting annoyed at being told to stop as it is time to go is more about just that, being told to do stop something that they want to finish?! Perhaps the kids who were chucking stuff anywhere are not taught at home to put things away nicely and take care of them?

Oh god, my 3 and a half year old is like this. He could have all the shleves in Tesco "faced off" withing minutes i tell you.

It drives me potty as he cannot cope if he sees something on a shelf in the wrong place - I usually don't even notice it but he seems honed in on it

Sorry not much more hlep, not getting much myself! But wanted to share with you

Thanks, that's put my mind at rest. Guess i should embrace his inner tidyness and go with it!

If you are still concerned, there is a book by Tamar Chansky about Children and OCD that you could check out. A lot of kids have OCD tendencies when they are younger, but whether it is OCD or not probably depends a lot on how much time in their day it takes up and how much stress/worry it causes them. If it's just a preference for having things neat then that's one thing, but if it is something that the child feels "bad" about if they don't do or worried that something bad will happen if things aren't just so, then it could be OCD.