While you only wanted to please him, you are now annoyed. For exactly a month, your daughter talks about the snow queen night and day, without ever getting bored. As if nothing, around, existed. A fixette frequent at this age according to Dr Stéphane Clerget, child psychiatrist, but which must however alert you in some cases.
Obsessions, a normal childhood step in early childhood
Pat’Patrol, little brown bear, Pokémon …: at home, you live to the rhythm of these figurines … and do not understand your child’s craze for one of them. If these obsessions are actually part of the normal evolution of toddlers (they generally appear between 2 and 7 years old), they can however be destabilizing for young parents. Whether at raising, lunch or bedtime, it is impossible for your little one to spend time without mentioning it. Result: we often manage to fear the worst (whether his child is obsessed or blocked in a single universe) without being able to open up to the rest.
But when does this fixette become pathological? Should you accompany your child in his new passion or put a framework for him? Dr. Stéphane Clerget, child psychiatrist and author of “Your child’s spiritual intelligence: reveal it and develop it“, Answers.
“The so -called” intense “centers of interest are part of a normal framework at a certain age (kindergarten, primary). These new passions often correspond in children to accessible areas of skills. Faced with the uncertainties of the outside world, they like to refocus on their universes, which reassure them. When a situation is very complicated for him, this element (figurine, plush, cartoon …) The help to be used. A gateway to learn: count with dinosaurs, name the dog dogs … These are real cognitive supports “, says the doctor.
Fixed in your child: how to tame them?
“We can take advantage of it to discuss it with him: this is an opportunity to have an enthusiastic exchange, which must be used to make it a learning springboard. We also have the right to set a frame in time: for example,” you can look at a cartoon after the bath “or only” 20 minutes per day “, advises Dr. Stéphane Clerget.
It is also useful to gradually expand your interests by introducing variety with close but different activities (a dinosaurs puzzle then a puzzle with other animals, discover dogs “in real” after a Pat’Patrol cartoon …). “”In summary: we widen, while setting clear limits“Specifies the doctor.
What if, as a parent, do we totally saturate?
It is quite possible to send the child to other relatives. For example : “You can talk about it with your friends, but for my part I want to chat with you something else“, Recommends the expert.
On the other hand, if the child only plays one game and refuses everything else, if this interest center becomes so strong that he comes to disrupt daily life, “So you have to redouble their vigilance”, Recommended the child psychiatrist.
“”In certain situations (as in children with autism), very marked obsessions can isolate the child of others rather than being a communication link. In this case, it is better to consult quickly “, he concludes.