Does your DC play pretend "wedding" with friends, or say who s/he is going to marry?

[citymama]

Help me out here.

DD and her pals at preschool, all between 4 and 5, have basically paired up the boys and girls as being future husbands and wives. "I'm getting married to Billy" "Mike is getting married to Julie," etc etc. At first we thought it was cute, ha ha. But now I find she talks about it all.the.time. She is into princesses, of course, and so the prince in all the stories is this little boy in her class. I've never even seen them playing together, so it's not like he's her particularly good friend or anything. (Although I find it interesting that they're both biracial!) Yesterday a bunch of them were plotting, and when I walked in to pick her up, I was told "your DD is getting married to B. tomorrow!" And then all evening she wanted to play some kind of wedding staging at home.

Is this normal, or weird? DH and I are a little freaked out as neither of us *ever* played any kind of pretend wedding game as kids. (Perhaps that's why I never had any particular desire or dream of getting married, but that's another story! ;))

Geez Louise, what is this all about? Maybe I'm overreacting a bit here, but I'd rather her imaginative play was about adventurers and astronauts as it used to be, and not this simpery wedding stuff! Or is this the next thing they go through these days, like the princess phase? HELP!

[Green_Tea]

I think it's totally normal. In a week or two they'll move on to something else.

[crl]

My ds never did that, but I think it is pretty common. I'd ignore and wait for her to move on.

Catherine

[mommylamb]

I don't think it's a big deal at all. Totally normal modeling behavior.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

I don't think it's a big deal at all. Totally normal modeling behavior.

:yeahthat:

my parents always tease me that when i was about 5yo i used to go on about how i was going to marry a certain boy in my class. i remember at about the same age, playing house with my cousin and we would talk about marrying this or that boy as if we had "dibs" on them (e.g. announcing things like "i'm going to marry Johnny".."no, i'm going to marry Johnny, you can marry Billy.."). i don't think it's weird at all, it think it's all part of the whole playing house thing.

oh and MIL tells me that when DH was about 2 and they were moving him out of his crib to a twin bed, and that when he first saw it, he looked confused and asked "and where will my wife sleep?" :ROTFLMAO: i guess the only other "regular" bed he had seen was his parents' bed (meant for two), and he had assumed everyone went to bed as a couple, and that going to a "big boy" bed meant he was going to have a wife to sleep with as well. LOL!!

[brittone2]

Our good friends' DD is 6 and really into wedding stuff right now-who she is going to marry, what she'll wear, etc. They are not a Disney princess family at all (they do very little media) and she's homeschooled. My DD now talks about "marrying" as she calls it. Not obsessed but she definitely has gone in phases with it. She's not in preschool (since we HS).

[fivi2]

ummm, my girls talk about marrying each other ;) Occasionally they mention another female friend that they want to marry, but rarely any boys lol.

But yes, they talk about marrying all the time. It isn't elaborate, but they talk about it.

[JBaxter]

:love5: Funny you should post this. Sunday Nathan walks up to our pastor and says.... Can I be Alysha's boyfriend? He was kind of stunned I was trying hard not to crack up laughing and pee my pants. He said well I guess but none of the hugging and kissing stuff your to young. He said WELL I really want to marry her but Im to young right now. Pastor says .. yes I think maybe 20 years from now you can ask again... Nathan says 20 YEARS... your going to be dead and in Heaven by then. NO ONE could keep a straight face. Our Pastor is 42 yrs old and his daughter is 6 1/2. Was amusing to say the least. Nathan is VERY adament about marrying Alysha.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Normal. All the little girls in preschool wanted to marry my ds. :)

Beth

[gordo]

DD came home from Kindergarten one night and told me a very elaborate story about her and her best friend T trying to kiss a boy named L. She told me that whoever kisses him first gets to marry him. However, L is the fastest runner in the class, according to her, so they have to trap him! They put his favorite toy under a table and when he goes under the table to play with it, they use blocks to build a wall and trap him to kiss him!!!

I do think talking about marriage is normal, however I did have a stern talk with DD that she needs to stop chasing the boy and she may not try to kiss him. I work in a PreK-2nd grade building and there are always issues with kissing and talking about boyfriends/marriage, etc.

[daisymommy]

Oh yeah, happens all the time! They have even played wedding, completel with picking the dandelions out of my backyard for flowers, a playsilk over the girls head for a veil, etc.

I really don't think it's a big deal. Kind of cute actually :)

[maestramommy]

Dora doesn't play wedding, but ever since she was a flower girl back in Nov, she has weddings and getting married on the brain. She constantly asks us why we got married, wants to look at my rings, look at our wedding albums.

[AnnieW625]

We did this in 1st grade I think, but I am pretty sure it's normal. I don't recall if we did it in preschool though. One of DD1's best friends is a little boy though so I am sure this will come up in one of our conversations too.

[happymom]

:yeahthat:

oh and MIL tells me that when DH was about 2 and they were moving him out of his crib to a twin bed, and that when he first saw it, he looked confused and asked "and where will my wife sleep?" :ROTFLMAO:


:love5: Funny you should post this. Sunday Nathan walks up to our pastor and says.... Can I be Alysha's boyfriend? He was kind of stunned I was trying hard not to crack up laughing and pee my pants. He said well I guess but none of the hugging and kissing stuff your to young. He said WELL I really want to marry her but Im to young right now. Pastor says .. yes I think maybe 20 years from now you can ask again... Nathan says 20 YEARS... your going to be dead and in Heaven by then. NO ONE could keep a straight face. Our Pastor is 42 yrs old and his daughter is 6 1/2. Was amusing to say the least. Nathan is VERY adament about marrying Alysha.


DD came home from Kindergarten one night and told me a very elaborate story about her and her best friend T trying to kiss a boy named L. She told me that whoever kisses him first gets to marry him. However, L is the fastest runner in the class, according to her, so they have to trap him! They put his favorite toy under a table and when he goes under the table to play with it, they use blocks to build a wall and trap him to kiss him!!!



Omg, I'm cracking up here! Such funny stories! :ROTFLMAO:

[KrisM]

One of DD's favorite Christmas gifts is this dress-up: http://mydressuptrunk.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=20&zenid=6sk29tmajrt93rn0s543egltd2

DS1 has narrowed it down to 2 girls that he might marry :).

[Dr C]

Yup, totally normal. My DS (age 4) is going through this too. Usually he wants to marry a little girl in our neighborhood. One day he told us that he wanted to wear a pink dress and marry a little boy in his class. This was the same day we took him with us to the polls and he voted a straight Republican ticket. I wasn't quite sure how to tell him he was going to have to choose one or the other!

[Globetrotter]

It's just a phase :) I would just ignore it and they will move on to the next thing!

[spanannie]

My 6 year old is in Kindergarten and likes to choose which boys she will marry. It changes on a daily basis. I've never seen her pretend play wedding, though.

[mypa]

My friend's 5yo DD started out saying my DS was her boyfriend, then a few months later she said they were getting married and were husband and wife, then I caught them playing having a baby...she was on her back pushing out a stuffed animal, sound effects and all. While DS never initiates any of this type of play he is a very willing participant.

Let's just say I make sure the door is always open when they play now.

[niccig]

DS told me he's going to marry Charlie his best friend, so they can live in the same house and play together all the time.

[nmosur]

DD hasn't started playing the wedding game as yet but has been talking about being married and marriage a lot. Last year (she was 3 then) she invented a husband for herself and three kids - the husband and the kids lived in Kashmir/Polynesia/Tahiti/paradise falls - depended on the what was the it place for her at that point. She went through a phase where the imaginary husband had died jumping from parachute/plane/tree etc. The dying part really freaked me out though.

The other day she asked me how he would know who to marry and I told her when she met someone who she wanted to live with all the time and forever he would be the one she should marry. She promptly chose her best female friend (the very same friend she wanted me to give birth to).

[JustMe]

Ds is adamant that he is going to marry dd (his sister) and my sister (his aunt). Dd and ds have getting married included in their very large reportoire (sorry I am too tired to spell right) of pretend play routines.

[citymama]

Our good friends' DD is 6 and really into wedding stuff right now-who she is going to marry, what she'll wear, etc. They are not a Disney princess family at all (they do very little media) and she's homeschooled.

Well, we don't homeschool - DD has been in preschool/daycare since 18 months - but we do very little media. We don't own a TV! But I think princesses and fairies and girlie stuff creeps under the door at night or through the tap water. It's like little girl crack and hard to escape!


Yup, totally normal. My DS (age 4) is going through this too. Usually he wants to marry a little girl in our neighborhood. One day he told us that he wanted to wear a pink dress and marry a little boy in his class. This was the same day we took him with us to the polls and he voted a straight Republican ticket. I wasn't quite sure how to tell him he was going to have to choose one or the other!

LoL, great story! I suspect by the time he's grown up he won't have to choose one or the other! ;)


Last year (she was 3 then) she invented a husband for herself and three kids - the husband and the kids lived in Kashmir/Polynesia/Tahiti/paradise falls - depended on the what was the it place
for her at that point. She went through a phase where the imaginary husband had died jumping from parachute/plane/tree etc.


Oh my, that's some imagination! I love it!

I guess I have to remind myself that play acting today is not indicative of anything in the future - like this isn't going to turn her into a teenager obsessed with the white dress and perfect wedding. I went to school and college with way too many of those girls! Just as I remind my BIL that his 6 yr old son's painting his nails does not make him gay.

Thanks for the reassurance - and all the laughs! Great stories!

[luza]

At least the object of your DCs affections are human. My DD has set her sights on our cat, and periodically asks if we can have him "un-fixed" so that when they grow up (he is still a kitten) they can have kittens together because raising kittens would be so much fun.

[BabyBearsMom]

I totally played pretend wedding with my next door neighbor. We were married at least 4 or 5 times.

[MamaMolly]

Haven't read all the posts yet, but last week Lula was going to marry DH. This week she's been introduced to Beauty and the Beast, and I told her they get married because they are best friends. So at breakfast this morning she announced that she will grow up and marry Maya, her best friend! :)

[alien_host]

In preschool (4 YOs) all the kids played wedding. DD was going to marry one boy and the other girls each had their "mates". It was pretty funny, in Kinder it does not seem to be a game they play (different kids).

[mikeys_mom]

My sisters and I used to play wedding all.the.time. We did not grow up exposed to princess stuff at all.

My younger sister decided she was going to marry one of her friends. We even staged a wedding under the stairs outside the synagogue one Saturday. I was the Rabbi and my other sister was the mother of the bride. I'm pretty sure we used some of our other friends to fill the various roles. Our 2 families are still very close and this story still seems to get retold on a regular basis.

[sweet_pea]

I remember playing wedding with my brother when we were little; other times the "groom" was a little boy from a neighboring family. My parents have several "wedding photos" to document my various weddings and wedding outfits (my veil was usually a mosquito net meant for a stroller) :)

[weech]

When I was in pre-school, one of my classmates asked my dad for my hand in marriage :ROTFLMAO: