should I be worried about obsessed ds 21 mo?

[TheWheelsOnTheBusHaveFallenOff]

ds is happy, sociable, doing well on all aspects of development. BUT he is absolutely obsessed with kitchens. probably 90% , possibly more, of his indoor playtime is spent with his toy kitchen. when he's playing with something else like his garage chances are it will involve putting cars in his saucepans. if we go to anyone else's house if they have a kitchen that's what he makes a beeline for and plays with.

is it normal for toddlers to be quite so obsessed with one type of toy or activity? it could just as easily be cars or trains or colouring, not bothered by the activity just that he spends so much time on it to the exclusion of anything else that I offer him.

Yes. My son was obsessed with trains. Played with nowt else for months.

I assume that's yes it's normal not yes I should be worried?!

anyone else with experience of this please? how long will it last? should I aim to limit his time in his kitchen or hide it for a bit?

I think you should encourage it. Do you do baking with him? Think of the advantages of a boy who will be able to cook you a full meal from scratch in 8 yrs time.

bless, glad mine isn't the only one. i love it really, the fact ds (20mths) is so obsessed with kitchens, cars (practically his first word), and his dolls house full of his uncles handed down ghostbuster figures. he tries to put slimer in bed. cute. it good to encourage a natural concentration span really. mind you, he drives me crazy watching big cook little cook on cbeebies and wanting to cook the stuff. i have different names for big cook little cook now

My 20 month old son is exactly the same with his kitchen - and mine - he loves mixing and stiring and making cups of tea.

His favourite program is Big Cook Little Cook too.

We moved house when my ds was 20 months, so I remember it vividly.

He got a hold of my salad spinner, which had been inaccessable in the previous house, and proceeded to play with it for up to three hours at a time.

This went on for weeks on end, and I am pretty sure I posted on here about it.

He would even wake in the night and ask for it, and it was the first thing he uttered in the morning.

The phase passed, and now he says he doesn't even remember playing with it!

HTH

thanks all for the reassurance and LOL at your ds asking for the salad spinner in the night mawbroon !

DS's obsession was lining up cars but he is quite interested in cooking and does various little jobs like spinning salad, breaking eggs, chopping things that don't require a sharp knife (beetroot for example). He is 5 and more of a help than a hindrance now. I can't wait until I feel it is safe for him to do hot things.

My dss was obssessed with hoovers at a similar age - at one point he had no less than 4 toy ones, and his mum HAD to get the real hoover out every day. He soon moved onto something else!

My dd (age 2 ish) used to get all her dollies and tddies and lie them face down (they were going to sleep) and she would put dried wet wipes(...not used you understand!) on them as blankets. I mentioned this to the hw and she said it was a comfort thing (we had just moved)

With my DS it was cars. From the time he could stand up at the coffee table he lined his cars up all around it.

He is 7 now and is into football, playstation etc but still gets his cars out sometimes.