Imaginary play

[Alitlebitsleepy]

My 2.5 year old DD is very into imaginary play and has been for quite some time now. I think it’s wonderful that she is able to use her imagination and process things that happen in her daily life through play. It’s truly a beautiful thing to see.

However…it’s also incredibly relentless as a parent. I do get down on the floor and play with her but it does start to feel very mind numbing. Imaginary play is basically all she does. The characters (whether it’s her people,teddies, dinosaurs, farm animals) are always mummy, daddy, nanny, grandad, doctor etc and usually they repeatedly fall over and need help, get stuck and need help, get food for each other, go to the seaside/ walk in the woods etc. it’s largely the same pretend conversations over and over. Even when we do a different activity such as colouring, it becomes imaginary play (mummy blue pen and daddy red pen), or even outside (baby leaf and mummy leaf). She will very rarely play by herself so I do partake in these pretend conversations for much of the day. It’s just a lot!

anyone else have experience of this? How do you stop yourself going insane? When do they start playing independently a bit more?

I also have a 10 week old baby so sleep deprivation probably isn’t helping.

Lol yes, we are in the same boat! I have children the same ages too exactly, a ten week old baby and a 2 and a half year old. She's always telling me to pretend to be a baby, where I have to talk in a squeaky voice, act dumb and end every sentence with 'mummy' or we have to 'go to halloween', or 'to the party' etc etc. And she's very particular about how we do it all and I get told off if I don't do something exactly how she wanted me to! It's so so cute and so draining! I've been fortunate enough to have a better sleeper for a second child so far thank GOD and I can say sleep deprivation definitely plays a part, those days where I've had a particularly better nights sleep I've got more energy for the imaginary play, so as time goes on and you get more sleep you should start feeling better able to cope with it 🙂 also I find that I feel more capable of dealing with the imaginary play if I've had a break from my daughter while she's been at nursery/nanas or we're just 1on1 without me having to faff about with the baby as well so I recommend that if you're in a situation where you can have a break for a bit.

Oh also involving the baby in the imaginary play had been one of the best things I've done. It's silly but it's strengthened the bond between the pair so much and makes it a little more fun to deal with. I pretend to be the baby talking e.g. 'make me a cup of tea big sister!'

I don't mean this to sound rude and un-understanding of your frustration but reading your post did make me smile. Your daughter sounds so cute, they're so funny at this age with their little stories and games!

@Razputini thank you for your reply!

it’s nice to hear from someone in the same boat (especially with a baby the same age too!). DD goes to nursery two afternoons a week and I definitely find I have more energy for it after having a break. Luckily she also chooses to include her baby brother in games which helps. I also experience the same with being included but having to ‘get it right’. Sometimes she tells me exactly what to say when initiating the game e.g ‘hold T Rex and say “can I have some food please”’ 😂 one of the tricky things is that she insists that I have to constantly hold the character I’m being. I’ll try and continue playing while feeding DS but she’ll get frustrated if I’m not able to hold the toy I’m playing with.

It’s very cute that your LO asks to ‘go to Halloween’