Is a Toddler Being Obsessed with Vaccums Normal?

One of mine was obsessed by sharks for many years. He knows every fact you can know about sharks, and yes, when he was very small.

Think of little girls who have to be princesses, and have to wear their crown everywhere. Even to bed.

Mine were like this. And I did know a little boy up the street who took his lawn mower (toy) everywhere. He didn't take it to school though :)

It's quite age appropriate.

When my son was three, it was tractors. We lived in a suburban neighborhood, not near any farms, and we didn't know anyone who owned a tractor, but tractors were his entire life for some unfathomable reason. We had bought him some toy trucks and cars, and one happened to be a tractor, and he just latched onto that thing. We had to buy more toy tractors, and before he could go to sleep he had to separate the tractors from the other toys, and line them up JUST SO at the foot of his bed. He knew which direction they needed to face and in what order they needed to be. If we saw a commercial for John Deere on tv, oh my, the world had to stop so we could all marvel at the miracle of tractors in hushed silence. If a kid's tv show had a tractor in it, he would stare in frozen rapture. He would carry his tractors everywhere and hug them.

That boy eventually moved on, to sticks, then to Peter Pan (he stopped calling me mommy and addressed me as Mr. Smee for a few weeks, and I had to call him Captain Hook), then to fish. Then he named his feet. The right foot was Ben and the left foot was Hedgehog. If I wanted him to come to the table, I had to call Ben and Hedgehog too, because of course your feet have to go where you go! He would talk to Ben and Hedgehog and ask them where they felt like walking, or if they were tired and needed to rest.

He's now a grown, responsible, very smart adult, with a college degree in a technically demanding field, travels the country for his job, and is happy and healthy. No tractors are involved. He's an audio engineer and monitor systems engineer with a sound production studio, and he loves what he does.

Sometimes I wonder if his natural ability to focus so intently, and his creative mind, and his imagination, and his decisiveness helped him become the engineer that he is today. No one in our family had ever heard of audio engineering when he told us that was what he was going to become. And he's really really good at it.

Enjoy your son!

E.,

Welcome to mamapedia!

Children can become singularly focused, as your son is right now, over items.

Mine were never obsessed over vacuum cleaners, but trucks, LEGOs, the list goes on. He will eventually move on. Don't stress over it.

Oh my gosh, that brings back great memories. My son was like this. He never was into trucks or dinosaurs but he was obsessed with culverts...you know the pipes going under the road. Totally obsessed. He also became obsessed with musical instruments (this was age 2/3). He learned them all and would sleep with a toy violin every night. He is almost 13 now...and still obsesses over things. He is obsessed with animating (creating animations on the computer) right now and has taught himself a LOT. I'd say he's at a college class level. The only challenge is he doesn't want to do other things...he only wants to do his obsession. It's just his personality and we have learned to live with it and gently pry him away to go do other things. When he was younger he would throw a tantrum. He's good about it now. He's very academically bright, in the gifted classes in middle school and is about 2 years ahead in his subjects. I used to lament that he would not act more like his friends, but I love him just the way he is...quirks and all! He is not into sports but he is very smart and creative and confident and has a lot of friends.

Ha! I love that you asked this...
YES! Totally normal. My son went through this at the same age. It was hysterical-- we'd go see vacuums at the store, he talked about them all the time. This eventually morphed into an obsession with pumps and fountains, welding, and then dinosaurs, but I digress....

It's totally fine. You just have a smart, interested little guy. Our caregiver used to take Kiddo on adventures at that age, and the vacuum cleaner museum at a local vac shop was one of the highlights. I think they went there more than once. Enjoy!

Nothing to be worried about. I'm laughing because I use to work with a woman who's so was also obsessed with vacuums. They had family and friends give them old vacuums so he could have more around. Really no different than another friend's child who was obsessed with vehicles and could name every make and model on the road. Or my son who knew every dinosaur. Or my grandson who could name every single Thomas the Tank Engine train.

Enjoy it because he'll move onto something else and this will just be another sweet memory of when he was a little guy.

Normal. My son loved trains. Then backhoes. Then dinosaurs. At some point he put them and other stuff together to make a "universe".

Maybe your son will grow up to be an engineer since he watches how they work. Make sure you get him legos (age appropriate) and teach him how to build them. Work his spacial skills. Those need to be developed.

Thank’s for your question E..

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Our son liked to help me vacuum when he was that age but he quickly got over it and moved on to firetrucks.
Sleeping with one (how does one sleep with a vacuum? Like with one on in his room for the sound? Or is it in his bed? I can't quite picture what's gong on here) and asking to go look at them at the store sounds a bit excessive to me.
Kids get interested in something for awhile, obsess over it and then move on to something else.
I wouldn't worry about it unless it goes on for a really long time.

Yes, I think this is normal. It reminds me of my brother, who developed an obsession for teeth of all things! He would have to inspect everyone's teeth. My mom had to reel him in, though, because it's awkward to ask to see someone's teeth and he started to comment on what he saw, lol. He would say things like "oh you have a lot of fillings" or "wow, those teeth are crooked." The obsession passed eventually and he went on to taking clocks and watches apart to see how they were made and worked. No one was really concerned with these little obsessions and he outgrew them. He turned out totally fine, no weird obsessions, and is the father of three amazing girls and is lead chemist at a manufacturing and testing facility.

Oh this brought back memories for me...it was trucks for a while dumptrucks mostly including the hydraulics. Then it morphed into dinosaurs and I could name every one just as well as my son because it was a new favorite one each week until we had learned them all (I had to read the captions under each picture in each book). Then sharks...I think I can still name all the sharks...we have a shark shaped tent that he would lay inside while watching shark week on TV. All the shark toys for the bathtub and the stuffed ones to sleep with...oh good memories.

Now it is Minecraft and all things rocks and minerals...he is now 12 and totally aced the rocks and minerals unit in 6th grade science. He reads books and collects rocks.

I just figure each age will bring on different all consuming topics of interest. His dad and I are always studying up on some topic or other. Eventually he will find one that he will build a career around. Big hugs!!

this question made me smile, thank you!

Yes, totally normal! My boys weren't "INTO" vacuum cleaners, but my oldest was into Tonka Trucks. My next one? Computers, still. He's 15 and loves to open them up and has been coding for about 2 years now. Simple programs, but his goal is to write computer games. His plan is to go to Boise State, since they have a Computer gaming/program course. My other two have other obsessions!

He is a smart little cookie for taking apart vacumm cleaners to see how they work. Is he diagnosed with autism? My friends nephew who was four or five at the time, was fascinated with toilets. Everytime he came to her house, he wanted to right away flush all of the toilets in the house. Eventually, she had told the little boy that he could only flush the toilets (whatever times). Your son maybe just a really curious little guy but with my friends nephew, he was later diagnosed with autism. With autism, all cases are different and there is no set definition or criteria on behaviour.

Sounds normal to me. I think it's great that he wants to know how they are made and how they work - it shows he understands their purpose. I don't think he needs more than 4 play ones so I wouldn't give in to any requests to purchase more, but assuming he engages in other normal activities, eats meals, and goes to sleep (rather than playing with the vacuum at night), it seems fine. What's the difference between him wanting to have a vacuum or wanting to have a stuffed animal or blanket at night?

My kid always had to take something from downstairs when he went up for a nap or at night (could be anything: a spoon, a napkin) and the reverse (something from upstairs had to come down in the morning). And he loved wearing buckets on his head with the handle underneath like a chin strap! (On the plus side, I never had a problem getting him to wear a helmet when he was old enough to ride a bike.)

Kids do weird stuff sometimes in terms of security symbols! I think it's okay to tie his requests into other positive behaviors ("you can watch youtube after you eat your dinner" or "you can go down the vacuum aisle after we buy the stuff we came in for"), and assuming he's not having tantrums over that, there's no harm. I would make absolutely sure that the real vacuum is not something he can get his hands on without you there - you don't want a 3 year old getting a finger caught or deciding to plug it in (and it's amazing what they learn just by watching - mine tried to start the car once!). So, safety first, of course, but otherwise I'd just ride this out. He will not walk down the aisle to get his high school diploma with a vacuum!

I remember seeing a show about a kid obsessed with vacuums. You could turn one on, he would listen and be able to tell you the brand. I was trying to find the link for you but I ended up on an awkward family photo site. A little boy asked the photo studio if they had a vacuum he could pose with so they pulled one out for him. It's pretty cute.

Normal.
My 3 year old's obsession was with trains, but same concept.

ETA: I just remembered that I once saw a very cute Ellen show that featured a little boy who knew everything there was to know about carpet spot cleaning machines. He knew every brand, which how they all worked, and which worked the best, etc.