Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

bit concerned

3 replies

festiveface · 15/05/2006 18:44

this sounds a bit crazy and i would never have beleived it myself but ds2 seems to have become a bit obsessed with tidying things up.

he has always been a bit particular about his drawers in his bedroom, wanting everything neat and tidy inside them but was also quite content to leave a mess everywhere else. I praised him for keeping his drawers so nice.

about a month ago he kept getting stressed about his cupboards, which are full of toys. saying there was too much in them, they weren't tidy enough etc etc. He was getting really quite frustrated about it so, we had a clear out and gave a load of stuff to charity.

now, this past week he has taken to tidying up all over the house and he's doing it a hell of a lot to the point where he's driving us mad whisking stuff away that were using!

he was in tears on saturday because the living room was a tip and i wasn't shifting all the diy stuff i'd just bought.

i have also noticed that when he's upset about something else, trivial stuff usually,thats when he starts going on even more.

I am beginning to worry that this is some sort of obsessive behaviour problem (please tell me it isn't)
dh thinks it's my fault because i am ultra tidy and always going on at them all to tidy up.

what should i do?
ignore it?

OP posts:
festiveface · 15/05/2006 18:44

he is 7 by the way

OP posts:
dandycandyjellybean · 15/05/2006 19:31

no experience of this, just thought I'd say hi. I wouldn't have thought it was compulsive behaviour exactly, but I suppose there's a slight possibility that if you get stressed about mess and stuff, this might exacerbate his anxiety. It may be that he is looking for a way to express his anxiety, and this is it. If I were you, I probably would make a concerted effort to be very relaxed around him with regards tidying etc, and also try to involve him in deliberately messy activities, whilst being very relaxed about the mess/clearing up. i.e. isn't this fun? Why don't we leave this mess for a bit and have a snack (etc) before we clear up? May be no help whatsoever, but just my thoughts. Above all (so easy to say but almost impossible to do...) try not to get too stressed about it. I'm sure it's just a phase and it will pass. HTH Smile

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 15/05/2006 19:44

It sounds like he's anxious (sats??) and so is indulging in some mild OCD. I wouldn't worry about the tidying, perhaps just try and help him relax.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread