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Parenting

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Original poster

3 year old living life as a dog..

36 replies

pinesocks · 30/07/2023 19:04

Hi, I wanted to ask for some advice from more seasoned mums about my 3, almost 4 year old. She's generally great and a very happy little girl with a kind and caring personality. She's been developmentally right on track with no issues raised by nursery.

For about 2 years now though she has been pretending to be a dog, it was occasionally at first and seemed quite cute. Now she's hopping about on all fours constantly, barking and telling me her name is Jasper. To be honest it's becoming quite embarrassing when we go out and about. She has a little sister, and I think it started before she was born, but did get worse afterwards.

We've been trying to not make a big deal of it, but when she talks about being a dog we just say "Jasper is good but we love Anna (her real name!) too". We were hoping that she'd grow out of it but if anything it's getting worse. Google tells me it's a sign of being an empathetic person, which I can definitely see, but to be honest I'd just really like a visit to soft play with no barking!

Any advice/moral support would be much appreciated!

OP posts:

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loislovesstewie · 30/07/2023 19:44

If it's any comfort[!} to you; my ,now adult , son who has ASD. spent a whole year as Buzz Lightyear, totally in character, including at school. He also spent a huge amount of time as other characters too numerous to mention, and animals. I gave up in the end and let him get on with it, I think it was a comfort thing. Clearly he has ASD so that is one thing, but it might also be her way of dealing with change/stress.

ForeverYellow · 30/07/2023 19:47

My ds is neurotypical, but at a similar age he was Peter rabbit for months on end . It ended eventually. Now he has an invisible friend called Bobot .

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 30/07/2023 19:49

Yy my dd was a cat on and off for a looooooong time 😳🐱 😳

It drove me mad but I think it's just a kid thing and a sign of a good imagination.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

3 year olds 4 year olds Behaviour & development Families

FutureMandosWife · 30/07/2023 19:51

Just want to say we are the same as you.

My ds loves being a stormtrooper. He has a costume and even when he isn't wearing it he still pretending to be one with an air gun and back pack.

We go with the flow as he will say I (insert name) now am not a stormtrooper. He knows during school he can't be one.

We have had to say sometimes no not today and he understands.

viques · 30/07/2023 19:54

A friends daughter was a horse. Getting new shoes was interesting as she held on to a chair and lifted up her feet behind her one by one to be “fitted” with her new horse shoes.

Tumbler2121 · 30/07/2023 19:56

My daughter was a dog for around a year, aged 2 to 3. She was a lovely, happy little dog who went round on all fours and ate under the table.

we agreed that she would pretend to be a little girl around other people.

not sure exactly when she grew out of it .. it faded away. Now has lovely balanced life with partner, work, children and a beautiful chocolate Labrador!

LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 30/07/2023 19:56

My grandson (4) is a dog called rex. Rex responds to commands like "stop!" And "Sit!" Which can be handy. We all let him get on with it. He also has an invisible friend who pops up from time to time. None of us make a big thing of it and I'm sure he will grow out of it, as will your daughter

NuffSaidSam · 30/07/2023 19:57

What happens when you tell her to stop it? Or, 'dogs aren't allowed at softplay so you're going to need to be a human the whole time we're there, ok?'.

mynameiscalypso · 30/07/2023 19:58

My DB - now a perfectly well adjusted 35 year old - was a dog called Max for a long time when he was a child. My own nearly-4 year old thinks he's a bear some of the time (and I'm a wolf 🤷🏻‍♀️)

RandomMess · 30/07/2023 19:59

My DD stopped being a dog at 5/6, obviously not so much at school but the phase at home lasted for very many years.

TaigaSno · 30/07/2023 19:59

viques · 30/07/2023 19:54

A friends daughter was a horse. Getting new shoes was interesting as she held on to a chair and lifted up her feet behind her one by one to be “fitted” with her new horse shoes.

This is my favourite comment that I've ever seen on this site 😂

Original poster

pinesocks · 30/07/2023 21:34

Thanks everyone! Reassuring to know I'm not alone. Hopefully this is a phase that will pass soon...

OP posts:

Badhairday101 · 30/07/2023 21:40

My daughter swapped between being a wolf and a dog for ages at that age. She's now a grumpy teenager... I preferred her being an animal.

CoalCraft · 30/07/2023 21:58

I pretended to be a lion for years and years. Walked about on my hands and feet and everything 🤷

MamaSharkington · 30/07/2023 22:19

One of my daughter's schoolfriends likes to run about on 4 legs being a cheetah. She is going in to year 3, and was known throughput the school for being faster on 4 legs than some year 6s on 2 legs! She's a fabulous, lively, hilarious child. Nothing wrong with her at all, she is very active though.

Curtainswithpompoms · 30/07/2023 22:39

My DD did this for a year or so pretending to be a cat. My enduring memory of lockdown was playing cats. Oh. My. God it was so boring!

Anyway, I was worried that it was a sign that she might be autistic because her half sister is and used to also spend years as a cat, but after introducing “playing cats” to her best friends at pre-school DD too became sick to the back teeth of it and after a time used to come home bemoaning the fact that her pre-school friends only wanted to play cats and DD really didn’t want to.

I hope this helps!

I was a bit naughty and used to do things like say, we could have an ice cream but cats aren’t allowed to eat I’ve cream so I guess we’ll give it a miss!

PaperwhiteTheGhost · 30/07/2023 22:50

I was an exotic (Arabian??) Woman when I was 5. Went to school with a silk scarf tied round my face. Insisted that I was called Crystal-Diamond.

Teachers played along and used it as a teachable moment about other cultures.

I'm not sure how long this went on for, and I don't want to ask my mum and thus stir up the memory for merciless teasing

PaperwhiteTheGhost · 30/07/2023 22:52

Oh and my sister had 30 imaginary brothers that accompanied her everywhere. Almost all of them were called Marc.

friedgoldeggs · 30/07/2023 22:55

Try not to worry OP. As I child I pretended not only to be a dog for a good few years, but also owned an imaginary horse that I would take with us on family walks (I would even do the clip clop noises out the corner of my mouth thinking nobody noticed )

Obviously I grew out of it but I do distinctly remember bounding alongside my mum on all four paws 🐾 I'm a grown up, regular old mum of two now!!

Potplant19 · 30/07/2023 23:00

My 3.5 year old has an imaginary friend who is a rat. He became a lot more present after the birth of her little sister, nearly 10 months ago now. I'm pretty sure Rat existed beforehand but Rat is now a big part of the family. Rat tends to do everything just a little bit better than we do - "Daddy, I think Rat has a slightly bigger boot in his car"... "Mummy, Rat has been to lots of planetariums before"

She only chats about Rat with us, she's definitely aware he's pretend, and I do wonder how much of it is to do with a new baby, or whether that's just a big coincidence and a high performing Rat was always going to be part of our lives

AbsoIutelyLovely · 30/07/2023 23:03

My son identified as a clock at the same age.

he wept great salty tears of sadness when he realised he couldn’t ever be a clock because a “ real clock has three hands”

This went on for about three years.

He’s intelligent, creative and wonderful. Embrace the quirky!

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 30/07/2023 23:05

One of mine was a dog for a while at this age.

We had to stop at every single tree when we were out for a walk.

Mischance · 30/07/2023 23:08

My ... now adult ... DD was a dog for about a year. Went round on all fours and like to lick water from a bowl ....and lots of barking. We went to a group holiday once and the others bought her a rubber bone and presented it to her on the last night. She's perfectly normal now with children if her own!

SwitchDiver · 30/07/2023 23:08

My way out there on the spectrum ASD DD spent years pretending to be a puppy. It gradually lessened once she started school but didn’t end until she was 7.

Beaucielblues · 30/07/2023 23:09

My friend has a three year old and a new baby. The toddler is convinced that the baby is a dog!

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