A little OCD are we???
The boy has taken what seems to be a turn toward a little thing called obsessive compulsive disorder.
I definitely try to instill in all the my children the necessity to be clean. Handwashing is very important. Making thier beds daily, placing plates in the sink after dinner, etc. etc. etc.
In the past, and now again lately, I have also awarded them 'gems' for completion of chores, tasks, extra help. The boy really loves this idea. He has done amazingly well. Much better than the girls. Go figure!
However...
And, I know I should just simply be thanking my lucky stars for a child that is such a gem himself...
He makes his bed every morning without a word from me.
He gets dressed all by himself, and brushes his teeth, BEFORE BREAKFAST!
He gets his shoes on, and is ready to play within a 1/2 hour of rising.
AND...he washes his hands twenty million , trillion times each day! No, what I really mean, is 500 gazillion, billion, trillion....you get my drift?!
Yeah, my son is becoming absolutely obsessive about washing his hands.
So...today we went to the park. First thing, he ran to the faucet near the fountain to wash his hands, BEFORE PLAYING! I told him, ' No, stop, you are gonna get dirty anyway from playing, just wait till we are leaving.' He was not having it. So, he washed his hands. He may have played for about 3-5 minutes before I saw him running back over to wash them again. This went on for the entire 45 minutes that we were at the park.
If he were still only 2 or 3 years old, I would have put it all on the idea of his newfound independence, being able to 'play' in the water, vs. actually washing his hands. But, no, he was using soap each time that I brought from home just in case they needed to potty, knowing this park had no soap in the restroom.
I gave up. He wasn't hurting anything, so why bother stopping him, right?
On the ride home, I noticed him looking his hands over and over, flipping them over, palm, etc. Then all the sudden he blurted out, "I HATE HANDS!" I said, "Why?" He said, " I hate hands,'cuz they just keep gettin' dirty over and over and over!"
Okay, that is true, but he had just washed his hands!!! Not once, but probably 10 or more times! AT THE PARK!!!
D says, I need to get a 'handle' on this. I say, it's a phase that he will undoubtedly outgrow, and I would much rather have him at the very least compliant with cleanliness in preparation for pre-school vs. a kicking, scratching, knock-down, drag-out fighting boy when I told him to wash after potty. Right? I mean, can a child really truly be over-obsessing with handwashing to a fearful extreme at the age of 4???
I think, I'm just gonna let it ride, and not put too much energy toward it, or...in my mind, it may cause an increase in the obsession should I forbid him such a thing.
It's like night day with him and Leah...
A handwashing obsessed boy, and then little Leah who will put anything she might find on the ground or otherwise, in to her mouth, thinking everything she finds simply must be candy!
