Worried about violent things dd1 (nearly 4) saying

[Petisa]

Dd1 is 4 tomorrow and is at nursery school. She has started saying things that are worrying me while she plays. Like just now she said she was going to cut the (pretend) dragon with a knife and went on to say she would cut its eyes, ears, mouth etc. I said maybe we could just scare it away with the knife but she looked at me like I was thick and said it's a dragon mummy! Am I being wet? Is this normal?

She also talked about doing a poo on my head and it would go on my head, hair, head, mouth, eyes. I was quite disturbed!! Another time she was burning her toys in a big fire. I think she got that from Toy Story 3...

Is this normal? Could she be getting this from school? It's freaking me out!

She seems really interested in baddies and likes playing them, and seems to be experimenting with saying naughty stuff. I'm shocked with what she's coming out with. Like where would she have heard of a dragon being cut with a knife? I suppose she was asking me what a sword was in a picture book yesterday. Maybe I am being wet?

Totally normal!

I think she's trying to wrap her head around these concepts through play. Play is a 'safe place' to process scary things (she's obviously connected the fact that knives can be used to hurt) and make sense of the world. I think it's normal and shouldn't be discouraged.

I'd recommend having a read of Playful Parenting. It's very helpful!