Now I have 3 sons and a daughter so I am used to them dressing up in each others clothes, shoes, etc and that doesn't bother me in the slightest but this latest development is a bit strange.
We're (my wife and I) not worried about him but we are curious to see if anyone else has experienced this at any stage.
What happens is that most nights our 5 yr-old comes into our bedroom in the middle of the night and searches until he finds my wife's boots and then brings them back into his bed and sleeps with them, if he can't find the boots he'll eventually take another pair but its always a pair.!
The funny thing is that my daughter (4) mocked him one morning about having mammy's shoes in his bed and he freaked out and was really embarrassed and for that reason we have said nothing to him.
We'd be really interested to see if anyone else has seen this behaviour.
Cheers
M.
Weird or what!?
Thanks for the feedback guys
We're not worried about this behaviour at all, we were just curious to see if anyone else had seen this type of thing!
Thats all
It sounds like a comfort issue to me. His mothers boots in some strange way comfort him and help him to sleep. I think it is just toooo cute and years from now will bring you many laughs.
I don't think it's a big deal. It sounds like some separation anxiety. You may ask him if he wants to pick out a shirt or something of hers to sleep with. Don't make a big deal out of it just say something like, hey instead of sleeping with mommy's dirty, hard boots do you want to pick out a shirt from one of these (give him a few that she doesn't mind him sleeping with)? If he says yes great if not, try again in a few days or ask him what else he would want to sleep with. If you need to be silly about and say something about not wanting him to have to smell mommy's stinky shoes all night or something. As for your daughter, I would tell her not to worry about it b/c she does things he doesn't.
When my son started toddling around 10 months he swiped a pair of hot pink satin panties that I had in a basket of laundry I needed to put up. He carried them around everywhere with him (which was extremely embarassing in public if I didn't catch him before we left the house) until he was about 3. His was a texture thing and we found him an Elmo that had a cape that had the same feel as my panties. He is seven and still sleeps with his Elmo and rubs the cape when he's going to bed. Hope you can find something that works for him!
Hi M., if this is just one isolated behavior, then I think it's precious!
Mom's boots are his 'lovely'. Some kids need their teddy bear, some kids like to rub their own elbow, some kids have a blanket.....it's just for soothing and comfort.
Maybe to avoid the dead of the night thievery, you could let him choose a pair of shoes to sleep with before he goes to bed.
Enjoy him, cause you know NEXT WEEK he'll be wanting to take your car to his GF's house!
Cheers back atcha!
:)
Kids do weird things.
Someday he will grow up and move away and there will be no more cute stories to tell your co workers.
Will he take a tshirt of hers? My only concern is if the boots are dirty or hard, or have high heels. But hey, if he's happy, it's all good.
Be sure to write it in his baby book.
awww :) maybe he has a particularly good memory of mommy wearing those boots. did you guys take a hike, go camping, do something fun, while she wore them? might be interesting to ask him why he likes them so much. in a non-threatening way of course. away from meanie little sister :) he sounds like a sweet boy.
yep that's weird but it's adorable! Kids do weird things.
I'd try to replace it with something else that wasn't so hard/dirty though, maybe a stuffed animal that mom has from when she was younger. My kids sleep with my old teddy bear from when I was a kid every now and then.
I wouldn't worry about it. Both my 5 and 2 year old sons LOVE our shoes! They put mine on more than my husbands because I have so many slip on shoes that are easy for them. At my 5 year old's afterschool care program, they have a lot of dress-up clothes and shoes that primarily come from the director's daughter who is a cheerleader for a professional basketball team. All of the little boys stomp around in the high-heeled cheetah print boots, the pumps and everything -they just think it's funny!
When you are alone with him ask him a few questions without judgement. That he is sneaky (especially middle of the night) is a concern. Even if it is because he feels bad about what he is doing...... you don't want a 5 year old learning big time guilt over shoes. Get things out in the open.
Ask him casually:
I guess you like Mommy's shoes. They are kinda neat. What do you like about them? What makes you embarrassed? Etc....
I would think you want to find out how important these shoes are to your little guy.
Find some answers and decide by following your gut whether this is something to let go or approach a child psychologist about.
I think kids go through all kinds of weird phases...I'd just let it go.
It sounds like he may be sleep walking. One of my daughter's would go to the kitchen and get the broom and start sweeping. She was sleep walking.
I know it is weird.
