DS checking things!

My DS 4 has started "checking" things with me constantly... If we're going out he'll say at breakfast "mummy, before we go out can I go to the loo if I need to?" and I'll say "yes, of course" and then 10 minutes later he'll check again "mummy, I can go to the loo before we go out".

He does it all the time with lots of things - he'll ask me if I'll play with him and I'll say "after I've wiped the table and swept the floor" and literally a minute later he'll say "mummy after you've wiped the table and swept the floor you'll play with me" and then keep checking again and again.

If he know's we're going out in the evening for instance he will ask at least 10 times that day "mummy are we going to Bob's for a BBQ later?" he'll keep on checking.

Is this normal for a 4 year old?

I'm starting to worry that he doesn't trust me because I always say "in a minute" or "after I've done this" - maybe he doesn't believe what I say anymore so that's why he feel like he needs to check constantly!?

I think as long as you actually do the things you've said you would he will grow out of it.

My daughter used to do this at about the same age. She grew out of it after about 6 months.

I found it did help when I wrote out what we were doing that day, and crossed things off when we had done them. She liked to be able to check what we were going to do. I don't think children do this because they don't trust us, I think it is about having control over their own lives.

Good luck dealing with it as it can be very annoying.

Thanks for the replies and Gitter that's a great idea - I'll try that! It is so annoying and very hard not to show it!