Is this normal or do I have a budding hoarder?

[HIU8]

DS is almost 6. He has this thing where he takes apart toys and takes the parts up to his room and keeps them. His nightstand drawer is full of parts of toys/games etc... Every night he sleeps with a different item. We do periodically bring everything down and put it away, but DS just does it again. Right now, in addition to the stuff in his drawer, he has his winter hat, gloves, halloween pumpkin bag, toothfairy pillow and a few other items in his room. Is this a normal boy thing? Is it a precurser to hoarding? If so, what do I do, if anything, about it?

[pinkmomagain]

I have a dd (my anxious ADHDer) who had some hoarding/OCD tendencies in the past. Not surprising with some relatives with hoarding issues. Any object could've easily gained importance/sentimental value requiring her to want to keep it. Not to gross you out, but she even went through a period of wanting to keep her nail clippings! We worked with a psychologist at one point that was big on breaking these types of tendencies before they become more deeply entrenched. Try with humor ("That is so silly. These toys are much more comfortable in the playroom." or make rules "All toys must stay in playroom."). She is not doing hoarding stuff now, but her room is a mess and alot of stuff collects, so we periodically have to help her go through it (and joke that we will be going to her apartment in the future to do the same thing).

That said, I think lots of little kids get attached to things (figurines, etc.) and it is perfectly 100% normal.

I think if you're mommy-radar is going off, you could try to break up his routine a little in a playful way. As my dh likes to say "shake things up."

[wimama]

At age 3 my DS went through a major pack rat phase. His issue was more of wanting to transport and carry his favorite toys through out the house. He just couldn't leave toys from his room in his room or toys from the playroom in the playroom. He loved to containerize. All completely random collection of things. Now at 4 years old, he seems to have moved onto constructing things, instead of transporting them. The poor couch cushions never stay on the couch, they are always turned into some sort of creation. Most toys at least in the rooms they are supposed to live in most of the time now.

Does he have any reasoning behind his collections? Maybe have a discussion about keeping things in order in the home and about things having a proper place to live. And, maybe allow him to pick three things at a time for his treasure drawer. More than three something has to go back to is original home.