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Original poster

"I want to marry you mummy" ...DS aged 3yrs...how best to handle this one?!

54 replies

SwissCheese · 13/07/2009 09:23

DS has just embarked on a new theme of marrying me! (bless!!) - however, it's quite persistent and he added on to it about we could then have babies!! He hasn't grasped the concept of what that is all about, but DH does raise eyebrows and look rather perplexed/worried. I'm trying to let it pass by saying oh really? and suggesting he just says I love you mummy rather than reinforce the marrying / babies bit!! I'm rather hoping he won't say it in public

Anyone else had something similar or is it me???!!!

OP posts:
sweetkitty · 13/07/2009 09:25

Oh he's only 3 it's a stage I would just allow him to say it.

DD1 is going to marry Daddy when she grows up, I'm going to be her bridesmaid and she is going to have 6 babies and 10 dalmatians

Tinker · 13/07/2009 09:25

Think it's completely normal. My eldest daughter used to say it to me and I remember saying it to my own dad. Don't think there's anything odd about it. I'd just say, "Oh yes, I'd like to marry you as well" then talk about something else

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 13/07/2009 09:26

DS1 is 5 and he wants to marry me, I give him a big cuddle and say thank you but I am already married to Daddy!

ImOverHere · 13/07/2009 09:27

I'd just go along with it. It'll pass and soon he'll be saying he wants to marry granny/friend at nursery/auntie and you'll be wondering what's wrong with you all of a sudden.

And if he does say it in public then at least everyone will know that he loves his mummy very much.

VietnameseCobbler · 13/07/2009 09:28

"you cant
its illegal adn I will go to prison"

try that

GreenMonkies · 13/07/2009 09:28

It's utterly normal, DD has wanted to marry her Daddy for a while, it's wearing off now that she has a boyfriend at school.

Laugh, kiss him and say you love him too, but you're already married. He'll get over it!

littlelamb · 13/07/2009 09:35

Not a problem. Dd wanted to marry me at that age, now she wants to marry her brother. Only a problem if she feels the same in 10 years imo

MrsJamesMartin · 13/07/2009 09:38

Its totally normal and very sweet and innocent, doesn't last long.
DS is going to marry his daddy atm

HuffwardlyRudge · 13/07/2009 09:38

Wouldn't matter a bit if he said it in public. Only a very strange mind could find something unwholesome about a 3-yr-old wanting to marry his mummy.

Lizzylou · 13/07/2009 09:38

I do the same as Greyskull, both DS's sometimes argue over who will marry me (they are 5 and 3).
Only time I've ever had males fighting over me, that's for sure.

Perhaps get your wedding album out and show him and talk about your wedding day and how he will prob do the same when he is older.

Umlellala · 13/07/2009 09:42

Aw, it's sweet! Nothing to worry about IMO. Sweetkitty, your dd sounds adorable too.

I say to dd (who wants to marry me, her Daddy and her uncle) that we are already her family and that she should marry one of her friends who she wants to make into her family... (she def has a couple of friends in mind )

Madsometimes · 13/07/2009 09:47

Absolutely normal. There are very few young children who do not want to marry their mummy/daddy.

saintmaybe · 13/07/2009 09:52

I said (to ds1 and dd; ds2 would be appalled!)

Oh, that's lovely. Is it because you love me so much?

I love you so much too, with a very special mummy love.

But we can't get married. It just never happens. Nobody can marry their mummy. But we still love each other so much.

'Why?'

It just never happens. (BIG smile and very final positive voice)

Not sure they were instantly convinced, but it's completely unremarkably common and I'm fully planning to remind them when it's least appropriate.

Mwa ha ha

MoChan · 13/07/2009 09:57

No-one will care if he does it in public, they'll just think it's sweet. Most children do this at some point don't they? I'd just enjoy it while it lasts...

msdevine · 13/07/2009 10:03

awwww how sweet my dd 4 thinks she is going to marry ds 2. She has told me they will have 10 babies.

I just told her that she can not marry family but have not said any more or made a big deal out of it.

I actually remember wanting to marry my big cousin I dont think it wore off until i was about 9.

I just love the things they come out with.xxxxx

moosemama · 13/07/2009 10:05

My ds1 was going to marry me right up until he went into year 2 at school. Now he is going to marry the prettiest, sweetest girl in the class - apparently she wants to marry him as well (they are both 7).

I'm thinking its probably the last time I'll approve of someone he tells me he wants to marry. (MILs prerogative. )

MrsTittleMouse · 13/07/2009 10:12

My DD1 wants to marry DD2. She hasn't quite grasped though that when you love someone enough to marry them that you also love then enough to stop biting their fingers.

midnightexpress · 13/07/2009 10:16

Aww I think it's sweet. Be glad; DS2 has started greeting me in the morning with a great big hug and, in the sweetest voice, with a big smile: 'Mummy, I don't like you'.

bathtublady · 13/07/2009 10:20

It is normal - someone told me a good response was "That's lovely darling but don't forget you can change your mind when you grow up!"

Pyrocanthus · 13/07/2009 10:45

Tell DH to lower his eyebrows immediately.

LoveBeingAMummy · 13/07/2009 11:22

Very normal, my brother used to go on about his pretty mummy and he was never going to leave her

KDD2009 · 13/07/2009 11:28

I agree with everyone else, my DS wanted to marry me until he received his first valentine at school then announced that he is no longer marrying his Mum he is marrying Milly.

He even went as far as to set a date ( I think it was a Thursday).

I am still getting over it .. I was traumatised!

Boo hoooooo

TeaMonster · 13/07/2009 11:34

I think it is perfectly normal, both my three and four year old want to marry me and have babies

The thing is DS2 told me he had a baby in his tummy. He told me he ate a tiny one and it will grow and I can look after it - he he he

They have such active imaginations. He loves you and is trying to express it in the only way he knows.

I think it is a developmental thing

Hobnobfanatic · 13/07/2009 11:39

My DD wanted to marry me, but now she's 5, she wants to marry Zac Effron. I was quite upset I'd been jilted!

WannaBeAKitchenGardener · 13/07/2009 11:41

stop reading Sophocles to him at bedtime?