Play Behavior

Wooow. This is completely normal! Honestly, I would be more worried if he DIDN'T do that! lol. (I have had 9 brothers, and every one of them did this... so did my sister and I...)

Sounds a lot like a boy who picks up a stick in the yard, holds it out in front of him, and says "Pow!" (or "Bang!" or "Bam!" or some other gun sound). It is just a boy thing. He could just as easily pick up shoes and "crash" them. Would it concern you if he did it with a couple of matchbox cars? Or toy airplanes? Does he HAVE any? If he doesn't...then I'd get him some. Sounds like he would enjoy them immensely! ;)

Sounds totally normal to me. My son did the same thing and I would sit and listen to him and he would make little stories with the toys. The "crashing" noise could mean anything from them "falling down" to fighting or crashing a car. I think it's just imagination at work with sound effects. No worries.
:)

Boys communicate by making noise. Men communicate by grunting (LOL!).
This is way so normal!

The other night my 4 year old would ONLY communicate to me in "meows." Apparently he decided he was a cat at church and did not let the playacting go. He and his brother (2 1/2) wake up in the morning and start singing the 80s Transformers theme song and DO NOT STOP. They are still singing it when they head to bed at night. They sing it when they play with cars, Transformers, dinosaurs, stuffed animals, etc. Other times they only roar at me all day (because they are dinosaurs). Does he ever play any other way with anything? Make any other noises? I wouldn't worry about it. Boys are weird, honestly. I'm one of three girls but just had my third boy and find that they are just...not quite like us. :) Not to mention that individual children are not going to follow the pattern of other children. I would not worry about it, especially since it is quite harmless and there is nothing you can really do to make him change the way he prefers to play.

Sounds like he is engaged in some imaginary play. Perfectly typical and healthy for a 3-year old. That's what little boys do; they crash things.

ADDED: Just to put your fears to rest, one of the symptoms of autism is lack of imaginary play skills. Most kids with autism have to be taught how to play with their toys -- instead of just spinning them or rolling them back and forth in front of their eyes -- and how to imagine that a teddy bear is a speeding car crashing into a tree for instance. If you are still concerned, you can read up with how autism is diagnosed and all of the symptoms that the child has to have (there are a lot) on the Autism Speaks website.

My polite, loving, kind grandson is still doing this at age 5. Normal. He'll gradually grow out of it as more mature inerests take over.

This is what kid's do. I'm amazed your mother doesn't remember her children doing this. No, don't be concerned. It's fun to kids, for things to crash. So long as he's not crashing valuable things. it really doesn't matter.

My son not only crashes, but he likes to peel out too!

Did you mom raise any boys? It sounds like she didn't...

He is a boy.
Boys are physical at play.
Different than a girl.
I have a boy and girl.
I see the difference.
My son makes noises too, sound effects, as he plays. He bangs things together too. Boys like to 'crash' things.

Pretend play, is an important aspect of development.

Please read this article:
http://stage30.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=679

Your son is COMPLETELY NORMAL.

I play with my son too, in his boy way.
I learn about HIM, that way.
Its fun, its normal, its good bonding.

Wow, really? Mom's out of touch with toddler boy behaviour. I have a 4 year old and he does the same thing - they crash things - even things that don't crash. He'll crash his grapes into each other when he's eating. And she doesn't seem to know much about autism if this is what she thinks is a symptom. I get the overprotective grandma thing, but don't know where she's getting the ideas.

This is what boys do! It's too bad our society has gotten everyone worried about autism when most of it is just simple normal kids play. Don't take your kid to the Dr., or he'll be labeled as being on some sort of the autism spectrum for normal child behavior.

My son does this and he's six. I guess I'd find it weird if I didn't grow up with two brothers and realize that this is how they pretend with their action figures, cars, stuffed animals, or pretty much anything they decided to play with. My son will orchestrate elaborate car crashes with his Hot Wheels cars and racecar track, and make lots of crashing noises while doing this. I also heard him last week making loud crashing noises while playing with a set of marbles from a game of Chinese Checkers. Totally normal, and it's his imagination at work.

All four of my kids did the same thing at this age. It's perfectly normal as far as I know and I wouldn't be concerned about it.

Did your mother say why she's concerned about this? And secondly, are you concerned about it? Were you concerned before your mother said something?

Haha! My son crashed trains at 3 & 4, Nascars at 5 & 6, and is now crashing Messershmidts and Mitsubishi Zero planes at 8!

This is SO normal in SO many ways!

I have an almost four yeat old son. All boys make noise when they play. I think it is part of being a boy. My son plays well by himself but many times will recite lines from the movie that he watches.I think he is fine. Let him play,

I also think is normal, I would be worry if he would use aggressive words or pretending give pain while doing it, but if he is only crashing them I wouldn't be worry, for some reason little kids find so funny when things crash or fall, lol.

Has he seen anything that "crashed" lately?

Yep, he is a normal boy. My 3 year old does this with everything. And so do all the other boys in his pre-school class. My daughter never did things like that. It is a boy thing.

He's a BOY. This is what they do! He's fine.

Sounds like typical boy behavior to me. They only build to destroy :). They crash everything, including themselves. They instinctly use things as weapons without ever seeing TV or actions depicted. I've also seen several tom-boyish girls do the same. Have you asked your peed just out of curiosity, to tell your mom that even the doctor says its normal?

Hi, R.:

What is he watching that he may be imitating.
Maybe he is an airplane pilot in the making!
Just a thought.
D.

My 2 1/2 year old son does the exact same thing - with matchbox cars, his toy story figures, blocks, leaves, pretty much anything. I've never been concerned about it - I think it is really just a boy thing.