Animal noises

Post Reply New Topic

My son has become obsessed with cats and acts like a cat quite often. He pretends to be a cat in public and with other kids around. He makes purring and meowing sounds and although I think it's cute, he's way too old (10) to be pretending to be a cat and it certainly draws attention in the supermarket when he meows haha. I should mention that he is almost as tall as me and weighs more than me so people always think he is older than he is. My question is this: should I discourage this behavior? At the moment I play along with him because it makes him happy, but I know others consider it odd so should I tell him not to do it? Thank you for any help. Just when I think I know what I am doing he does something like this.../sigh

at that age i used to moo a lot.


i really can't give you any good advice about how or even if you should deal with it.


i got over it eventually. i'm not sure why. it could have just gotten old. i may have eventually realized (or been told) something that made it not make sense.

good luck though

My son who is 7 acts like a dog; woofing, sniffing, hangs his tongue out, whimpers, sits up and begs. Quite honestly it drives me nuts and is embarassing socially. We don't even have a dog! At home, he even gets underfoot like a dog would, I end up stepping on him, he cries because I've squished his hand or toe, but persists in the behavior. I've started telling him either he has to go to his room or go outside. Usually if I say, "barking dogs go outside....." he'll stop.

Thank you for your replies. I guess for the time being, I will let him continue to do it while we are home, but remind him when we are in public that he should be his human self. I will concentrate on the things that are more annoying and disruptive to me and those around him.

It could be that he is trying certain roles.

Maybe you could explain him a bit about them: Every location requires certain roles. The role of animal is not fitting to a public location.

I mooed and ate grass in kindergarden,
barked and hid under tables at 11-15
purred when scratched up until 20ish
and I still tend to take on roles.

Stereotypification is common and atleast to me it's a way to get away from everything and take on something that is less complicated.

I got over it too and probably wouldn't have handled being talked to about it at the time.

But Quiltmama got it right - treat him for what he wants to be.
Cats that can't sit nice or whines go into the car or such.

As for discourage roleplaying?
As that's all it is, roleplaying alone.
Kids usually play 'house' or firemen,
or when I was young cowboys and indians..
He's doing the same thing, on his own.

You know I never thought of it that way - he's taking on the role of a cat and that has to be far more easy than trying to deal with all of the rules of the world. Often when he gets frustrated he yells how much he hates "society's rules" and how they make no sense. That has to be hard for him to walk around every day not really knowing when he's done something wrong. At least if he's a cat he doesn't have to worry about it all. That is a great point. This kid tries so hard to follow the "rules" and most of the time doesn't get it right, and he gets soooo frustrated. He is so happy and carefree when he is a cat.