Ok, i know that children learn by repetition, but seriously, my two year old will finish a movie and beg to watch it again .... and again ... and again. Even with music, as soon as a song ends, he wants it again. Even 4 or 5 times in a row. Is this normal?
Yes...yes...yes...and yes.
(But can't YOU find something better to do? ;)
C. Moore ("Grams")
from the Pocono Mts. of PA
Hi M.,
Very, very normal. But remember, he isn't learning from watching movies, and at 2 years old, even one entire movie is more screen time than recommended by the AAP. I wouldn't allow the same movie or even different movies shown back to back or in the same day for a 2 year old, because it's too much t.v. time.
Hi M., you have received pretty much the same response. Yes my son can watch the same Thomas the Train video over and over while playing with his trains. He is 4 and in school all day but the minute we settle in he says mommy please watch Thomas. He does the same thing in the car with my Micheal Jackson CD. We will listen to the 5 songs he likes than he wants to put it back to the song he likes. No worries all kids do it. Enjoy the little things. Take care. D.
Not sure if it is "normal" but my 27 mo old does the same thing. I usually entertain his request once or twice then tell him that its the last time then we need to continue to watch the show or do a new activity. Then when the song/show is over, I stick to my word and don't rewind/rewatch. He seems to be ok with it then because I give him forwarning. So I wouldn't worry about him wanting to watch things over and over, as long as you can eventually change the activity to something new. good luck.
yep- when Shrek first came out... it was constantly on at my house. If the TV was on... that was what was on it. My son loved that movie (he was about 2 or 3 at the time). Then it just stopped.
But when my kids go to my dads house after church they always request the same movie. ALWAYS! Luckily he just sends them into his bedroom turns on the movie in there and they happily watch it while we get lunch ready. They listen to the same songs or CD over and over again also. And play the same game on wii (mario cart- is starting to drive me insane already and we have only had the wii since christmas)!
Completely normal. Aggravating at times but totally normal. Hope this helps :)
My two girls watched movies over and over again to the point that I knew the movie by hard. Funny I would begin to notice things in the movie that I never saw previous times. My girls are now teenagers and are doing fine.
yes! it's very normal. my daughter just turned 3 and now she only does it with certain favorite movies or cds. before it was everything she watched! yeah it is a little weird, but those were the times when i would do laundry clean etc... i hope this helps! enjoy your baby, cause time flies....M.
If I see "Cars" one more time I'm going to scream!
Regarding the "kids love repetition" comments others have made... Although my 26 month old son wants to watch Cars again and again and again, he sometimes has nightmares about this movie. He'll wake up screaming "No, Mac, NO!" And now he always wants to skip the part where Lightening McQueen gets "lost" from Mac the Truck.
so normal! Most kids do this when they find a video they like. And please don't listen to people who frown upon children watching TV- most of them have full-time nannies and housekeepers. Some of us need a break now and then!
Lynsey
My daughter does the same thing. So I would assume that is normal. After the 2nd time see looses interest. I just go with the flow. Whatever makes her happy and keeps her occupied. My 4 year old neice does it too. I think it's normal.
My almost 2 1/2 year old does it ALL the time. :) He knows many movies almost by heart now, especially Cars.
M.,
Repetition is what is all about. My son will repeat different happenings in his life as he remembers them (he doesn't watch TV or movies) multiple times.
Repeating something is creating a comfort zone for him. He knows what is coming next. He can anticipate it. He knows it will happen. He is gratified when it does happen, because it hasn't been altered OR taken away from him (like a book may not get picked up a 3-4th time to be read simply because Mom or Dad feels silly or doesn't want to repeat it).
Good luck with the Sesame street blues!
M.
Oh gosh. With 5 kids I think I've seen about a hundred movies about 500 times! My 4 year old has a new obsession with Cloudy and a Chance of Meatballs, but as they get older they tend to not watch the same movie over and over again!
LOL Yes, incredibly annoying to adults, but perfectly normal. :)
So normal! When my daughter was 2, she would watch "Heidi" over and over just like your son. She even loved looking at the book. I couldn't understand it, it wasn't even a cartoon. But she loved it! She is a very smart 8 year old now. About a year ago she saw the movie case and said "Hey Mom...what movie is this? I don't think I have ever seen it before." I about fell over!
I had to chuckle at your post because my daughter did this too and it used to drive me a little crazy. One of her favorites was Frosty the Snowman which she begged to watch almost every day for a year (even in the summer).
She is 4 years old now and has slowed down to watching things only 2-3 times in a row.
All the best,
B.
My 20 month old daughter does the same thing. There are certain videos she loves (Sesame Street's Do the Alphabet and Kids' Favorite Songs), and she can watch the same tape over and over again. One thing I did recently I bought two sets of Elmo's World cd's and alternate them, so she doesn't watch the same exact thing all the time.
YES!!!!!.....I can act out sleeping beauty word for word!
Yes! All kids do this.
Young children love to know what is going to happen. Think about Blues Clues, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers etc. These shows are very popular because the child knows how it is going to progress. Each one has a beginning, middle (the problem)and the end (all slightly different, but basically the same). Ask your son to tell you about the movie and he will babble away proudly. My 3 year old grand daughter 'reads' her favorite books to herself all the time. She get most of the parts right too. Its adorable.
That's funny! Yes, my son would watch Peter Pan like that. He's allowed 2 hours of TV a day, and I'm not sure if that even covers a whole movie. But, he watches in chunks. I keep track with tickets. So, each day he ends up watching parts of Peter Pan. Sounds pretty normal to me.
It seems to me that we are jaded. To a two year old, everything is new and needs to be taken in and there is no context to store the information. Also, I imagine it's a comfort thing - it's predictable and they know what is going to happen, unlike much of life... Just some of my thoughts.
