Guest Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 Any one any thoughts on why a child, nearly 4, wants to hide everything during a pre-school session. He usually empties everything out the home corner and piles it all up behind the bookcase! We left him once to see what he would do next, after we moved the bookcase to another position so he couldn't hide things there. He piled everything up in a corner; dolls clothes, balls, all the food, books, cars, you name it he hid it! and tried to use a stacker box to conceal it. If we sit in the home corner and interact with him he plays lovely but as soon as you move he starts to pile everything up. He is encouraging another child to join in and stopping other children from enjoying the activities. He looks around to see if anyone is watching. I dont think hes making a den etc because he never does anything else with it. I've spoken to mum and she has no answers...i've not come across this before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_1490 Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 Hello Jo, I HAVE come across this before. Do you think this child may have a problem sharing the toys and rather than share he would rather hide them so he can't even use them.We often find odd things hidden when we tidy away that caused a conflict earlier. He may have an enclosure schema. Does he like wrapping himself up with covers. On the other hand he could be doing this to quietly cause disruption . If this is the case get him to put the things back himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 I've come across it, too, Jo, and like bubblejack an enclosure schema came to mind. Even if he is doing it to cause disruption, it would be interesting to see what happened if you went along with this behaviour-perhaps providing lots of opportunities ofr him to empty & fill, or cover things up. If he's genuinely interested he'll lap it up & encounter a lot of concepts on the way. If he's being a pain, the novelty will probably wear off when he finds you're not phased & are encouraging, so either way you could gain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 Yes enclosure schema came to my mind as well - lots of my children have done this - including my daughter who is still keen on doing this - plastic bags full of absolute rubbish - so I agree that you should try and explore this with him and see where it leads. Nikki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 Thanks for this post, Jo: its very thought provoking. We always find lots of stuff in handbags, pockets of dressing up, etc but I've never seen this done in such a systematic way. I must say I thought that it sounded like an aversion to sharing at first, and then I wondered about what you said about playing nicely when an adult was present. Perhaps he sees it as a way of getting attention? The schema angle seems very interesting, too. I'll be interested to watch this and see how you get on! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_2776 Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 Have you ever asked him why he does this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 Thanks for all your thoughts.. He will share the toys with his friend, who he is quite close to, and he encourages this child to join with his 'game' but i have never noticed him wrapping himself up. I have asked him why he does this but he never answers, i did explain once that he was going to have to put it all away and he was not happy He never seems to want to join in with other activities, we have played hiding games in rice etc but he never seems interested, but i will keep encouraging. I'll let you know how we get on Thanks again Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts