Strange Imagination

[Rhubarb]

My dd is a couple of weeks away from being 3. A couple of days ago she was playing with her toy microwave (we don't have a real one so until recently she didn't know what they did) when I noticed that she was putting her head inside. Then when the bell 'tinged' she announced that her head was now cooked, she got a plastic plate from her tea-set, put her head on it, then came up to me, put the plate on my lap, and stood stock still with her head on the plate inviting me to eat her.
I was just wondering - is this normal?
Her dollies also have lots of very nasty accidents like being run over, falling down the stairs, breaking their arms and being attacked by dogs. Is this a sign of trouble in future years?

Rhubarb, I'm sure this is a sign that she will be a terrible teenager.... :0
But seriously, I think the microwaving her head thing is kind of cute. My son is always offering up parts of his body for me to "eat." I get a bit worried sometimes as he's running through body parts, that he's going to suggest that I eat his willy very loudly in the middle of the supermarket. I just don't think they have the same canibalistic association with eating body parts as an adult does.
The nasty accidents that her dollies have, sounds a bit like too much adult tv (the news maybe) or older siblings/friends talking. I wouldn't worry too much at this stage.

Sounds very funny Rhubarb. As in ha ha not strange. Wouldn't think there is anything wrong at all. Know someone whose daughter had all her dolls hanging, as though from nooses, round her room - nothing wrong at all. My daughter always wants to be eaten by a crocodile!

I wonder if they like the idea of their toys having accidents because it gives them a chance to rescue them and look after them and generally feel powerful and in charge? My ds is obsessed with looking after the cat, reading to it (!) and giving it his dummy. I think he just likes the idea of something being more babyish than he is.

We have another small Goth, Rhubarb, and I know just what you mean about finding it quite alarming when they talk about grilling dolls, child-parent cannibalism, etc. I think Aloha is right: they quickly pick up from older children, overheard conversations etc that the world is a potentially dangerous place, and they deal with this by re-enacting situations with their toys in a "safe" environment such as home with a parent. It sounds like your dd has a very creative turn of mind - we always try and focus on that when ds starts telling toy horror stories...

Ps - should have said try not to laugh - we find it so hard to keep a straight face when Noddy rescues Action Man only to take his clothes off and "burn them with bombs" etc.

My dd1 (3.5) loves me to play pretend games where I am really horrible to her - I mean horrible like another child, snatching her toys, wanting things that she has got, saying this is better than that etc. It is very weird...but I have noticed that she comes up with some really good strategies for diverting me, so I assume in some way she is practising. Obviously I am really mummy and nice, so she can practice dealing with nasty behaviour in comfort. Still, sometimes I really hate doing it, especially in the supermarket as I look like a nutter

I think children have a naturally cruel/gory streak - mine think the funniest game is when they make me cry (well, pretend crying). You know - I've chopped your head off mummy, cry! And when I pretend to dissolve into tears they collapse in hysterical laughter.

And I think the eating bits of them thing is normal and probably also encouraged by us - I'm always telling mine that I'm going to eat their tummy for breakfast or that I've munched their toes off and now they haven't got any, which they also think is hilarious...

My dd is always telling her barbies how naughty they are and sending them to bed without any supper of locking them in a cupboard. Needless to say I've never done either of those things to her!

DS1 likes to hang his toys! I just patiently explain that we shouldn't put things round necks, even toy necks.

Do you not remember doing any of these things yourself?

I was always "harming" my toys, so I could set up an emergency dollies hospital to sew them up and "make them better"...

My husband used to spend hours with his brothers constructing gallows with real trapdoors out of meccano for his action men to be tried and inevitably found guilty of henious crimes for which they required the death penatly.

Neither of us are violent people

Rhubarb, I wouldn't worry either. My ds loves it when I pretend to eat various of his body parts, my favourite supposedly being roast bum (aren't they cute?) although I always tell him that grilled hair is a bit tough. I think she sounds funny ha ha too and I wouldn't worry about the nasty accidents her dolls have either, all normal I think. Ds also likes me to play at being the baby so he can shut me up with a dummy, feed me brutally, tell me off and, on one occassion, when dp and I were both pretending to be babies but refusing to share a toy, roaring, very, very loudly "SHARE IT!" I really, really, don't shout at him like that but he does love to lord it over us. at lots of the stories here.

at all these as well, having to pretend I am working whilst stifling snorts of laughter

just a thought but has anyone ever said something along the lines of "you're so cute I could eat you all up"? we pretended to eat up our 2 year old only the other day for being so cute and she joined in finding it very funny.

crossma we do that too and dd loves it, she wants to be a little roast with onions, carrots and potatoes!!!

Rhubarb your dd sounds sooo hilarious. Completely normal at that age! My dd1 (nearly 4) likes to point at dd2 (2) shouting "die, die, die" at the top of her voice. Bless her.

I put my two in the bath and pretend its a big cooking pot and I'm making Little Girl Stew...hilarity all round especially when I have to taste it and it tastes too salty, pooey, cheesy, etc etc.

Oh thanks for all this reassurance! Yes I suppose we do tell her that we are going to eat her belly and bum etc. The microwave thing just alarmed me a bit though! Especially as we don't have one ourselves! I was discussing her little gory habits with a friend and she asked if anyone else could be influencing her, then I realised that granny has her every week! I should explain that granny has a farm and they are quite blunt about death and injuries as they face them all the time with various animals. Granny fished a dead mole out of the lake once to show the children, and she has an assortment of dead animals in her freezer which she displays when schoolchildren come to visit. So I guess she's picking all this up from there! Granny also has a microwave......

But reading these stories I'm very glad I don't have the only sadistic child on here! I'm also extremely grateful that she hasn't started hanging her dollies from nooses yet! Though I'm sure that will come in time!

My ds likes to smell my feet while shouting 'Poo!'. I have to do the same in return. Quite revolting - for him, I mean.

Talking of freakie kids (well nearly) x2b's cousin used to collect road kill and boil it up in some chemical goo to get all of the meat off and then kept the sculls - his mum is a HV and his dad a school teacher - one kid was completely normal and then this completely odd one!!!

Think the dead mole in the freezer thing made me think of this!!

Ewwww! That is freaky! I did used to think dh's mum odd when I heard about her collecting dead animals to freeze, but now it's kind of endearing. The children get to see animals they would never normally see, such as moles and badgers, it's just a shame they're all dead! She thinks nothing of spading rats in front of them either, I guess they have a different attitude to animals and death in the country than we townies do.

dd hasn't repeated her microwave trick since, but she does still lie on the floor and announce that she's dead. And she told me that her favourite colour was black. I keep repeating to myself "It's just a phase, it's just a phase...."

thanks for the messages - had a welcome laugh at most of them

This is nice to read as my dd, 3, is so similar. First thing in the morning she would get in my bed & announce that she was going to poke my eyes out & strangle me, giggling away.
Found her groaning away holding her foot, asked what was wrong & she said she was trying to break it.

Dd just did another one! She put a toy car between her legs, wobbled up to me and said in a deep voice "Hello, how are you? I'm a man!"

These are hilarious .... Rhubarb I think that your dd is totally normal ... anyway I hope so as DS is very similar!
I am always telling him that he is scrumptious and that I want to eat him all up (and his bum and toes are particularly tasty!) and we often play the 'Running away from the enormous monster that is going to eat me for its dinner' game!! Although my ds is very sensitive about lots of things this doesn't seem to traumatise him at all! He just laughs till he is about to wet himself!!!
I love watching his imagination develop ... it is the real magical time of childhood ... when they are young enough to have endless imagination without having any cynicism to curb it ... and they lose their imaginations so much younger nowadays don't they? Enjoy it Rhuby!
PS ... DS' favourite colour is black too ... but he now doesn't use it that much because he knows that mummy doesn't like black and she prefers blue/green/red etc ... so he now used other colours more than black!

Oh, what a comforting thread! My ds (3) has started talking about killing and cutting bits off people etc and it worried me. But then I'm soft. I tried to stop him killing an ant the other day saying that they're nice things and we don't hurt them. Then his grandma came along and squashed them all under her shoe saying 'die you horrible ants'. (I have to say that I kill them too when he's not there, I just hated him being so thoughtlessly violent.)