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Original poster

three year old role play - what's yours like?

29 replies

beasmum · 02/02/2006 08:19

Just wondering. My son is other people (and animals!) all day long! I find it fascinating and wondered whether your three year olds do this? How much of the day do they pretend play like this, and who do they pretend to be?

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Original poster
beasmum · 02/02/2006 09:46

oh, I guess we're the only ones in the whole world then....

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Lasvegas · 02/02/2006 12:15

DD is three she has an alter ego called Baby Beebee. She does baby talk and crawls. She tells us I'm not Daisy I am Baby Beebee. Over Christmas she was Baby Jesus, and we had to be Mary and Joseph. I ended up saying "Baby Jesus come here and do a wee right now" "Joseph are you playing football tonight"? which was a bit odd.

Surfermum · 02/02/2006 12:18

No you're not alone! My dd thinks she's a cat and crawls along the back of the sofa. She also thinks it's hilarious for her to be Mummy and me to be Surflet. Oh and being the "doctorman" and making things better is also a fave of hers.

NomDePlume · 02/02/2006 12:19

DD ADORES role play, mainly she'll be me and I'll be her, which is basically her bossing me around for half an hour

Poshpaws · 02/02/2006 12:34

DS1, 4, role plays all the time. Fireman Sam, Mr Incredible, you name it.

I am always one of the other characters, such as Mandy or Stretcher Girl (or whatever she was called). Used to love it, now find it quite draining, as it is always me who has to play, never daddy .

He still does it now, even after a full day at school.

Original poster
beasmum · 02/02/2006 12:50

oh thanks guys, it's interesting to hear from you! My son just does it constantly at the moment, doesn't pay much attention at all to actual toys. He has phases where he will play more with toys but at present - phew! It's like living with someone with multiple personalities! I say "OK train driver, shall we have lunch?" and he gets very cross and says "NO! I'm NOT the driver I'm a wicked witch!" It's hard to keep up, he changes from minute to minute....I do like it but as you say poshpaws it can get quite draining!

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groat · 02/02/2006 12:52

I get a choice of who I want to be then get told I can't be him/her for whatever reason!!!
DS nearly 4 and role plays anyone from Star Wars, Power Rangers and Harry Potter. And I get an extremelt long dialogue of what he's doing to who and why which lasts FOREVER!!!

WharfRat · 02/02/2006 12:55

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Enid · 02/02/2006 12:55

lol

my dd2 does this it is sooooooooooo tiring and drives dd1 mental

she vacillates between being cinderella/a mermaid/a puppy/Mary (from nativity fame)

tortoiseshell · 02/02/2006 13:01

Both ds and dd do role play the whole time - ds is Fireman Sam, Wallace (Wallace and Gromit), dd is Mary (nativity), fairy, princess, Cinderella.....

littlerach · 02/02/2006 13:01

Yes, DD1 used to play nurseries, and alternate between which teacher she was.

It was especially funny when DH was dragged in to play and had to be Jon the tea time cook, or better still, Debbie the lunchtime cook.

Enid · 02/02/2006 13:02

we should get our dds together tortoiseshell and watch them go

throckenholt · 02/02/2006 13:04

my twins (just 3) pretend to be cats. My DS1 never really bothered with role play - apart from being a tractor driver - he did have an imaginary friend though - called noonoo.

popsycalindisguise · 02/02/2006 13:05

ds1 (3 and a half) has such a vivid imagination and spends most of the time canoeing down a river to the jungle, being spiderman and saving spiderbaby (ds2 11 months old), playing ds1 and ds2 in jesmond dene, being in a band (Mammy, I the guitar-er and you the microphone-er)

exhausting!

LOOBYLOU2 · 02/02/2006 13:20

My DD is totally away with the fairies!
She loves dressing up, wearing my shoes and my lipstick
At the moment she IS Snow White and whenever she has an apple she has to fall down dead - I have to be one of the seven dwarf's and kill the witch and come back and rescue her.
This has had the advantage of getting her to eat lots of apples and on Sunday celery worked just as well too!!

wannaBe1974 · 02/02/2006 14:17

My DS alternates between being fireman sam and the koala brothers, and his toys play along nicely. When he's being fireman sam his little tikes cosy coupe is a fire engine and when he's the koala brothers it's an aeroplane! Although sometimes the couch makes a good aeroplane as well, or a train, and then mummy has to be a train driver.

mszebra · 02/02/2006 14:30

My kids only big phase of pretending to be other people was pretending to be.... me and DH. Usually DD became me and DS became DH. They did this for a few months. It got really confusing when they expected me and DH to pretend to be one of them, too. DH loved the game but it hurt my poor brain too much, when DH said "mommy" but he really meant DS, etc.

Original poster
beasmum · 02/02/2006 14:32

It's so lovely to read all these - aren't kids just lovely and funny and endlessly imaginative!!

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getbakainyourjimjams · 02/02/2006 14:33

DS2 does it. He's often trains, or does "stories" with his trains as he calls it. At the moment he seems to be casting ds3 in the role of "baby witch". No idea where that has come from.

tortoiseshell · 02/02/2006 14:36

lol enid - my dd is frighteningly pious - she appears as an angel every so often saying 'DON'T BE AFRAID, A BABY IS BORN WHO IS THE SON OF GOD' which has freaked out one or two visitors...!

uwila · 02/02/2006 15:20

Oh definitely not the only ones. my almost 3 yr DD plays more than one part. Like she pretends to be naughty, then steps over to the side and takes on the adult punishing her, then steps back over to naughty child role... weirdo. Must come from DH's genes.

Enid · 02/02/2006 20:35

dd1 and I heard dd2 whispering fiercely to herself 'I am angry with you farver, I have stolen your daughter' during a particularly passionate sleeping beauty role playing game.

we posl.

morocco · 02/02/2006 20:42

pmsl at these
ds1 also has an imaginary language which he kindly translates for su
eg what do you want for dinner?
pishlmosilus - that's sausages in my language mummy
wtf??

Hulababy · 02/02/2006 20:59

DD is 3y9m and role plays a lot too. Sometimes on her own, other times with other children or with which ever adult(s) are around.

She also does this with her dolls and her Happy Land too - getting them to act out some scenario, with her one of the characters.

Candide · 02/02/2006 21:36

Our most confusing role play was when DS was me, I was DH, DH was DS & DD was DD. It went on for ages but not as long as me having to be Barnaby the Bear which was tedious in the extreme.

We have also been doing a lot of bobsleighing with our buggy recently - roll on Winter Olympics.