Question
Our daughter is 3 1/2 and loves animals but in particular dogs and cats. At times it’s a bit much. She gets on the floor and acts like a cat meowing or dog barking for a good amount of time. She will literally bark at me instead of speaking. She does it at home, activities, and school. I know pretend play is important but how do I know if it’s too much? Also we have no pets. The obsession started with cats and then slowly evolved to puppies.
Not sure how to approach this.
Answer
This type of pretend play is perfectly normal for early childhood.
If she barks or meows at you when you’re asking her a question - play along by saying something like, “Oh it’s so hard to understand the doggie. I don’t speak “bark”. Let’s see how can we communicate…ok doggie bark once if you want milk bark twice if you want water….”
Stay in the play.