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Parenting

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Original poster

HELP. DD 3.11 thinks she is a chicken. WWYD?

82 replies

ConstantCraving · 24/09/2013 19:43

My DD is 3.11 and loves chickens - to the extent that she wants to believe she is a chicken. She has various chicken names she goes by: 'Happy Mrs Chicken', Henny Penny' etc and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things chicken (including chicken coops - you wouldn't believe how many there are!) DH and I have not really seen this as an issue, we like the fact she has a good imagination ,and her ability to remember information - and she's only 3, if you can't be a chicken at 3 when can you ?
Anyway, she has recently started nursery for the first time and its causing some issues -she has been calling the other children chickens, which has upset some of them, and she gets upset if the staff call her a little girl. I have sat her down and explained that other children don't want to be chickens and that she is a girl who loves chickens and loves playing being a chicken but she got really upset and stood in front of the mirror saying 'I think you are a chicken, your hair could be feathers .. you have got a beak' (she still talks in the 3rd person) trying to convince herself! Nursery seem worried by her obsession - and now I'm getting worried. My much older DS never did anything like this. I just thought she'd grow out if it - anyone else experienced anything like this?

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NoMoreMadCatLady · 25/09/2013 19:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PiratePanda · 25/09/2013 19:50

I refused to answer to any name but "Wilton" (not my name!) for two years from the age of 2. Even learnt to sign my name Wilton.

It passed.

DS is currently superman, he tells me.

WafflyVersatile · 25/09/2013 19:52

I know this is a problem of sorts for you and I know that it got her a bit upset but that is soooooooooo adorable. I can totally see it in my head.

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bebopanddoowop · 25/09/2013 20:00

This thread is making me soooo excited to have a toddler! I hope the little creature growing in my belly thinks it's a bird or an obscure dinosaur!

desertgirl · 25/09/2013 20:01

I have a nearly 6 year old cat, and have had for a few years now. I thought we were nearly over it but with the new school year, we have had lots of being a cat again. Sigh.

Although now I am wondering if it will be something else next... thanks Herisson (cat, flying horse, hedgehog, interesting progression :) )

BikeRunSki · 25/09/2013 20:04

My v recentky 5 yo ds lives life as Star Wars characters. He had never seen Star Wars, but today will only answer to Obiwan. I am EwokMummy. He is usually Luke.

IHeartKingThistle · 25/09/2013 20:04

For years DD reverted to dog mode whenever there was change in her life. Started nursery - dog for 2 weeks. Moved house - dog for 2 weeks. Started Reception - dog for 2 weeks. Sadly she's just gone into Year 2 and her wobbles are manifesting themselves in much less interesting ways!

GrumpyKat · 25/09/2013 20:09

Your chicken loving daughter sounds ace to me- she can come round and help look after our chickens any time she likes.

justalilmummy · 25/09/2013 20:10

My ds is currently a frog, he was an octopus last week!

Grittzio · 25/09/2013 20:16

My DD is regularly a dog, this has included her insisting walking on all fours on a day out once. For a good few months we had to pretend we were the family(good friends) from across the road. We all had to have their names and if we called each other by our real names she really kicked off, very infuriating especially on occasions when I was telling her off, she would calmly look me in th eye and remind me her name was xxxx!

LoonyLouLou78 · 25/09/2013 20:32

Lola88 - when my little sister was 2/3 she had a 'friend' called Dobby (long before Harry Potter) who we had to have a birthday party for (with cake and singing) while on holiday in Scotland. She chatted to him and we all had to acknowledge his presence! Bless her heart - she is also now totally normal.

Love this thread!

Original poster

ConstantCraving · 25/09/2013 20:39

I am loving all of these. For some reason Pirate being 'Wilton' is making me giggle.

DD has reluctantly accepted that the other children might not be chickens, but says they are animals now after I explained that people are a kind of animal. I defy nursery to have an issue with that though!

OP posts:

RubyrooUK · 25/09/2013 20:48

My DS1 is also often a dinosaur. He is also three. He roars at strange children rather than speaking. He can speak perfectly well but just roars. He is a t-rex on the scientific grounds that they "are the best ones".

He is also sometimes a pirate and refers to himself in the third person, with encouraging statements peppering his speech as he does normal household tasks. "Come on Pirate [DS]! You can do it!" He will also go to the park and shout at random children using the slide, taunting them: "Ar, me hearty, that's my treasure! I've got my treasure! I've got MY treasure. I'm going to make YOU walk the plank!!"

A chicken sounds quite peaceful really.

Original poster

ConstantCraving · 25/09/2013 20:55

Ruby that is priceless!
DD is quite peaceful. She clucks. I was really worried about her starting nursery - but not about the chicken thing really, more because she's never been away from me, DH or childminder before and I thought she'd struggle. I'm so proud that she's settled relatively quickly and is happy to go - hence feeling so down when nursery pointed it out as an issue. Honestly, given the range of pirates, dogs, cats, fairies, trains etc on here you'd think they'd have come across this before!

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RubyrooUK · 25/09/2013 21:00

The pirate/dinosaur stage is a bit of a relief actually. I posted a thread on here a year ago because DS1 had a carrot as his pet. He took it everywhere - to bed, to nursery. We had to replace it every few days due to fondling. He got incredibly anxious without his carrot around and would go absolutely nuts with excitement when we reached the carrot part of the supermarket.

His nursery were bemused but unsurprised - his previous comfort object was a dirty and peeling Oyster card from which he could not be separated. Until he fixated on the carrot.

PiratePanda · 25/09/2013 21:03

Well it's even more ridiculous considering I got the name Wilton from the male sherriff in a 1960s black and white cowboys and indians TV show called "F Troop"!

God knows why...

PiratePanda · 25/09/2013 21:05

Oh Ruby I'm in stitches!

Original poster

ConstantCraving · 25/09/2013 21:12

Oh lord! ROFL at both the F-Troop and the carrot!!!!!!!

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LunaticFringe · 25/09/2013 21:13

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

oscarwilde · 26/09/2013 16:41

The carrott story is fabulous.
My 3 yo dd has a selection of imaginary baby animals which she carries around very carefully in the palm of her hands. They have to be removed and carried up the stairs so she can be persuaded to use the bannisters.
She called my DH Lola for 2 weeks on holiday this year. She was Charlie apparently
She frequently pretends to be a dog. I'm waiting to hear from the nursery that she has licked one of the staff on the bottom....

originalpiratematerial · 26/09/2013 16:44

If it's any consolation, when I was four I had an imaginary cow that was so real to me I took a visiting German child out to the byre to see it. Imagine my mother trying to explain that one away!

More recently, my middle son (now 12) had a horde of imaginary children when he was a toddler, and seemed to give birth to another one at least every half-hour. They seemed totally real to him although I think by the time he had 50 or 60 of them, the younger ones were somewhat neglected. Fortunately he grew out of it.

originalpiratematerial · 26/09/2013 16:45

Oh yes, and older readers will remember Auntie Mabel and Pippin on CBeebies - anyway, DS2 was convinced that he was Pippin and spent a lot fo time running around on al fours and begging for sausages.

delasi · 26/09/2013 20:58

I've enjoyed this thread and have nothing to add yet (DS too young) but...

originalpiratematerial I used to love Come Outside! I wanted to fly a spotty plane and when I was about 6yo I got very angry with my mum and aunt for laughing at one of the jokes in it as they were "not taking it seriously"...

Anyway, as you were

dogindisguise · 26/09/2013 21:08

That is very cute! Do you have chickens? We have four, though fortunately neither of our children have yet expressed a wish to be one of them. I could perhaps put them off by describing some of their less appealing habits.

DS often talks about himself in the second person (Mummy hold you) or uses his first name rather than "I", though he's recently got the idea of "I" and "My".

I imagine she'll grow out of it soon, but in the meantime you can indulge her love of chickens.

Liskey · 26/09/2013 21:18

Dd is 3.9 and is usually a dog or cat most days called ginger for some reason not sure why as no one in the family has red hair. During this the real cat just puts up with the interloper and then wanders off to try and find a peaceful place in the house.

But for the last few days Dd has decided she is a unicorn. That is a bit more difficult to explain in the shops. Probably up there with chickens really.

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