6 yo daughter likes to pretend to be sick or have a cast

[rob38]

Since my daughter was 3 years old she has liked to pretended to be ill or to have a pretend cast on her. Originally I played these games with her but then stopped. She will now occasionally make a pretend cast for herself, I have asked her why she does this and she said the it makes her feel cool.

It is possible that her mother has Munchausen syndrome and her older brother is a victim of Fabricated Illness by Proxy.

Is my daughters play normal or something to be concerned about?

No. lol. Every child I know, including my friends and I when young, played the same game!

DD was like this when she was younger - it stemmed from a fascination with doctors/nurses/hospitals/medicine in general and consequently she has now grown up to be a healthcare student. I really wouldn’t overthink it

Very normal imaginary play

Unless extreme it sounds pretty normal. Kids love playing doctor and role playing. They also get extra attention when poorly.
I weirdly used to want to break my leg as a kid as I thought it looked fun to swing around on crutches (I now realise it wouldn’t have been fun at all!).
Of course, extreme cases could signal something, but for the most part I wouldn’t be too worried and would maybe just redirect to other games and role play scenarios if it becomes too much.

It's normal for kids to play at that stuff. I'm quite concerned at you saying her mum may have Munchausens and her brother may have it by proxy. If the brother is still a child, that's worthy of a social services referral. That's quite a dangerous diagnosis

Are you not her mother? Do you have Munchhausen syndrome?

The clue is in his username

I used to play at being ill as a child, including dosing myself with medicine (in reality water) from a spoon! My favourite book series had various dramatic events and illnesses in it and I got the idea from there. My five year old loves to play at having accidents and going to hospital. I don’t think it is uncommon.

Is her mother your ex-partner? It feels like there is a lot going on behind the scenes here.

Very normal at this age.

I was always pretending to have a broken arm as a child, my friends and I also used to pretent to be from other countries and tried out the accents. It all seems so exciting and exotic when you are little....the reality is broken bones are rubbish and you can't really describe yourself as 1/8 French, 1/8 Indonesian, 1/8 American, etc etc.

As a kid I wanted glasses, braces, casts on my arms/legs etc. and had a doctors set so I would play doctors and nurses. I think it's fairly normal, as long as she is not actually trying to make herself ill or break a bone.

"It is possible that her mother has Munchausen syndrome and her older brother is a victim of Fabricated Illness by Proxy"
Why do you think this? It sounds a bit dramatic?

The attention is fun , just especially with a walking stick or some other accessories .Just a it of fun .

Our DD was fascinated by crutches.
So fascinated that she asked for a pair for Xmas and birthdays for about 4 years. She didn't want elbow ones she was after the armpit hgh type
She grew out of it by the time she was about 9

My dd had a big thing about this, she used to imagine herself with a broken arm or leg or losing a limb (if you remember the CBeebies presenter, Cerrie, had a visible limb loss). Just moved on at some point. I don't know why it's a thing!

I used to tie elaborate hoists to lift my leg up in bed as though it was in a cast. Saw that on telly. Neighbour kid and I used to play doctors constantly. The pride I had when I got an inhaler for the first time and everyone at school was fascinated.

Kids do these things.

As a child, I was fascinated by blood, guts, illness, death, pain, skeletons, muscles, tissues, organs. I regularly made myself a makeshift sling for my "broken arm". I really wanted to have asthma because I loved one of my friend's inhalers.
When I found out what it meant, my favourite game was "consumption" for a while where I'd basically lie down somewhere with a sheet over me and whisper instructions for people to bring me stuff.

I went through a six month obsession with the Black Death when I was about seven. I told everyone who'd listen that I had the plague. I used felt tips and crayons and pencils to draw buboes all over my face.
Once I nicked one of my mum's lipsticks, painted a red cross on our front door, lay down in the garden and made two boys pretending to be body collectors come and bundle me up for burial.

I was weird. But I grew out of it. Mostly

Totally normal. Mine used to plead to have a wheelchair to go into the supermarket.

This is normal. Have you never seen how much kids love a plaster?

I needed a tubigrip on my arm once as a child and thought it was the best thing ever!

Normal. My brother liked nothing better than to be "injured" as a small boy. No bump too small for a plaster, but preferably a tubigrip.

As an adult he's not in the least interested in medical things, although his eldest is very gung ho re: sport and life in general, so the hours and hours spent hanging about a&e for real probably took the shine off.

I used to want a caliper on my leg when I was a kid. I thought it looked cool.

When I was about five I found my mums packet of sanitary towels and asked what they were for . I didn’t really understand the answer, but clocked that blood was involved. So the next time I fell over and scraped my knee I helped myself - my mum was busy having a chat and coffee with her friends, it was the time that ST had loops and I was quite good at knots, though I had to hold the towel over my knee to stop it falling down. Then I went to show my mum and her friends how I had dealt with my sore knee all by myself……….

“It is possible that her mother has Munchausen syndrome and her older brother is a victim of Fabricated Illness by Proxy.”

What is ‘wrong’ with her brother? Part of me says it’s normal. I used to pretend I had asthma as a child cos I thought it was fun but then another part is also questioning the mother and brother part that might make it not normal

@Sera1989 my son was referred through his GP for assessment at hospital for Fabricated Illness by Proxy

Sounds like she would really love the Our Generation Doll wheelchair and crutches set. There’s your answer though- it’s so normal that the doll manufacturers are on the case!

Well thats worrying, how many days do you have them?