Oh, there?s the ophthalmoscope,? says five-year-old Freya during a recent checkup, accurately naming the hand-held instrument her doctor is using to examine her eyes. Ever since Freya was two and saw a couple of episodes of Doc McStuffins, she?s been obsessed with anything medical, says her mom, Allison Anderson.
?We have a ridiculous amount of play medical tools. Every day, she uses the stethoscope, magnifying glass and blood pressure cuff to examine the family, her stuffies and even the dog,? she says.
For Freya?s third birthday, she had a Doc McStuffins party, and for the past few Halloweens, she?s dressed up as the Disney doc, a nurse and a vet. Anderson is a nurse and so is her mom, so Freya likes to flip through medical textbooks, too. It?s cute when your preschooler gets super interested in trucks or dinosaurs or medical instruments for months or even years. But is it, well, normal"
As it turns out, yes.
About a third of preschoolers get really into one particular thing, developmental experts say. (The obsessions can be pretty quirky, too?one study from the University of Virginia found a kid who was deeply into blenders; another was fascinated by American presidents.) Known as ?intense interest? in child development circles, it often happens in the two- to six-year-old age range for a couple of reasons, say researchers: The interest in pretend play and imaginary worlds is generally at its highest between ages three and five, and kids this age are wired to focus...