she won't stop cleaning!!

[Pigeon]

Hi,
Now, I know this sounds a bit of a funny post - but my 25 month old DD has a thing about cleaning. She has her own broom, which she gets out when I start to sweep, but her recent thing is tissues. We have a box of them within her reach for nose-blowing, she gets one out at a time and just keeps dusting the floor. The other night she did this for 20 minutes.  Each time we try and get her to stop, and get her interested in something else, she has a fit (she can be a stubborn little minx, that one). If I put the tissues out of her reach, she'll come and ask me (or worse, find something else) to dust with.
I really don't think I'm obsessively clean around the house (I'd like to be, but who has the time with a 2 year old??? ) but she DOES seem to be getting obsessed with it. I'm trying not to let it get to me (as I know the more I try and stop her, the more it will aggrevate the situation), but should I be getting worried???

[Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle]

I wouldn't be too worried. Just look at it as if it were an exciting new toy you had brought her - would you be worried if she played with it every day for 6hrs? I have found with this sort of obsession that they really "do" it until satisfied and then get over it. Enjoy it while it lasts. If you are worried about her using all your tissues, how about filling an old tissue box with chopped up dishcloths (you know the really thin ones - chux or something) for her to pull out and reuse and maybe refer to them as her cleaning cloths or whatever?

[Tamara]

LOL Laura. 

I have a 3 yo exactly like this - nothing (besides a trip to the park) gets her more excited than when I say I'm going to clean the bathrooms!!! 

She LOVES to clean and uses her wipes to polish, her toy mop and bucket to clean the floor (read: make an absolute mess), and the worse thing is that when we're in my mum's house (which is a farm hose with animals and people in and out all day long), she goes and remarks how dirty/dusty the chairs etc are and how she must clean it all   

I don't worry - it's just role play (that's slowly developing into OCD - only joking, honestly!  )

[¤ Efka ¤]

I think this is too funny
My little siter was like this she is 7 now and still likes cleaning My mom don't mind it 'cause she hate cleaning

[Pigeon]

she goes and remarks how dirty/dusty the chairs etc are and how she must clean it all   

Are you sure we don't have the same child??? I get quite embarrassed whenever we go somewhere and she says, "big mess, must clean it ALLLLLL up" 

Actually, now you come to mention it, she's huge on role playing at the moment, (her other favourite game, "Bella's done a big poo") so as you say, its probably just an extension of that.

Thanks ladies, for putting my mind at rest!

[Erin M]

LOL at 15 months, my DD has starting wiping up her tray after she eats with a napkin - whenever she gets one in her hand, she "dusts" the tray, the floor, wipes her mouth, etc.  So, is this where we're headed?

[deb]

Would y'all send your kids to MY house?!?!? I could use a little help over here with the "I'm done with it so there it lies" thing Josie has going on. Maybe your kids could just follow mine around picking up after them!

[NikiJ]

My 20mth old is the exact same.  She looooves the broom.  She cleans her highchair tray, her face & hands and the floor after dinner.  She puts rubbish in the bin & puts her change mat away when we're finished.  She goes around the hse saying "messy, messy" which has me cleaning complusively @ times.

I think it's funny & believe it or not it's her daddy she takes after.

Let them do it if they want too before long we'll be shouting @ them to tidy up thier mess.

[Jenifer]

This is making me laugh!   

My mom tells me that when I started to crawl I would go find lint / crumbs on the floor and bring them to her ... and to this day I am obsessive about a clean floor! 

[ryan's mum]

Ryan is the same  .if anything is out of place he will put it in the right place. in the past i have moved things around , he thinks they are not in the right place so puts them back.I even got him a girly pink trolley with a bruch , mop and bucket ,duster (they don't have them for boys) he loves it.He has his own dyson hoover .He also uses wet wipes to dust everywhere .He loves to help wash the dishes .he has been like this since he was very young. when he was in his walker he cried for the hoover , we use to give it to him and he would go around in his walker with it.the only thing that annoys me is when he wants to help fold the laundry , this can take ages .