Laying down to play with cars

[flowerlover1990]

I’m a bit worried about my 16 month old son. He spends quite alot of his days laying down on the floor pushing his cars along. I’ve not seen another toddler do this before. I can distract him out of it to play with something else for a bit.. but his default is always back to laying down with his cars. He’s always enjoyed wheels and spinning things since he was little. He makes good eye contact, responds to his name, points, claps etc but isn’t really talking yet or saying any words, just babbling. He is a very cautious child and observed alot before getting involved, he doesn’t really enjoy playing on swings yet. At a playgroup he will only play with cars. I’ve googled the laying down thing and it suggests ASD. Has anyone had anything similar?

Nothing to worry about OP, they like being on the same level as the cars I think.

why do people worry about every behaviour being autistic?! He’s only 16 months old 🤦‍♀️

I do this too!

Don’t try and make him do something that he doesn’t want to do when playing (within reason).

Playtime is the one time they should be allowed to be themselves.
Theres no right way to play cars or anything else.

If he wants to stand on his head or use pretend his cars talk etc then just let him.

You sound like a great mum but sometimes we can worry too much.

And girls.

one of mine did this, one didn’t. Both girls.

What “club” are you referring to? As I suspect you’re just being sexist.

The dictionary definition of the word normal is ‘Conforming to a standard, typical, expected, usual’. Since someone with autism is not neuro-typical, and since autism is not expected or usual. it would be the correct use of the word.

@Cucy thank you. I admit I am a bit of a worried first time mum but I’m working really hard to chill a bit. He plays with cars mostly all day, but today for example I got some crayons out as I bought him his first colouring book (with pictures of cars lol) and wanted to see if he fancied doing that. We did a bit of scribbling but he quickly went back to laying on the floor with his cars. Thank you for your advice ☺️

@jewelcase the op mentions asd. Look it up if you're not sure what that means.

I won't respond to you again as its not my thread , but I responded kindly to you and would expect the same in return.

I see that you've edited to remove the part about no one mentioning autism apart from me. How dishonest.

NT DS2 does this all the time, interestingly his older brother (who has ASD) never did.

Is editing dishonest?

I searched for the word ‘autism’. There was one mention of the word (yours). Then I noticed that the OP had mentioned ASD, so I deleted my error.

I didn’t find your response kind. I found it pedantic and factually wrong. So yes, perhaps best not to reply again.

Thats what I was going to say, is there another way to play with cars?

Thats not right though is it, because normal, in terms of a bell curve, simply means what usually happens or is usually the case

Neurotypical means exactly the same thing

Im not sure why the word normal is a problem

Developing normally, functioning normally - these are terms which are applied to something or someone doing what is expected for that person or thing.

The mothers with boys club.

Do you think you’re being clever calling me sexist? I couldn’t give a damn if some girls also do it. I did too when I was a child. It’s not earth shattering news that you’re delivering that some girls also enjoy playing with cars. That doesn’t change the fact that on the bell curve of behaviour, it’s primarily boys who will spend such a huge amount of their play time hyper focussed on vehicles and their wheels.

That’s reality, not sexism.

I agree, but “neurotypical” is less likely to upset anyone because “normal” has an implied opposite which isn’t as savoury as “neurodiverse”: namely “abnormal”

I still cringe at people point scoring over this shit though. See the poster calling me sexist for another example of this crap.

Totally agree, people fall over themselves to say something is offensive.

Do you never lie down on the floor with him to play, @flowerlover1990? I’m sure he’d love it if you did.

There’s nothing unusual about this.

He might well enjoy laying down to colour too! Both my dc did

You sound like you work with children? I did that in my professional life.

He’s very young for colouring so I wouldn’t worry about that. Follow his interests and incorporate vehicles into other things. My 3 year old is vehicle bonkers and plays with diggers in the sand, does water play with vehicles scooping and tipping, loves a tray of rice of lentils for his tractors and trucks, etc.

Magnet tiles are a great accessory for car mad kids as you can build cities with garages, ramps, and tunnels for the cars. You can get magnet tile road pieces too. We build towns with magnet tile and duplo houses and the cars drive about it. You could also see if he likes brio tracks and trains as that’s another great way to extend play. Vehicles can be used for mark making by driving through paint, or making tyre tracks in play dough. As he gets older he might enjoy making his own cars. My son builds cars with Lego and with Brio builder sets.

Don’t worry, his interests will expand and diversify eventually, but for lots of boys the interest in vehicles is a life long one. Don’t forget how much children learn by endless repetition of the same play. They’re wired to do it.

My DS did this (head right down too, resting on the floor) and funnily enough he is autistic, and the teachers at his nursery thought it was Very Weird and no other child did it!

But I do happen to know other children who did it, so I don’t think it’s unusual!

@Smartphoneban thank you. yes, that’s exactly what my son does too. He rests his head on the floor when he plays with them.

@Yourethebeerthief thank you so much. This is so helpful. I haven’t heard of those tiles before so I am off to order some for him ☺️

This is what he does all day lol. *image from Google!

The magnet tiles are one of the most played with toys in our house. Good for making dolls houses for little playmobil people etc as well. They’re a great toy for adults too- I find them very satisfying to build with so will happily play with him with them.

Ffs he’s a baby, leave him to play!!!!