My 3yo is absolutely obsessed with playing pretend and has been for over six months. It's really all she wants to do. She acts out situations that we have experienced over and over, insisting that we call her by whatever name or role she's chosen and basically dictating the scenarios with exactly what we're supposed to say. We play "Dr. Marshall" (her grandma's dogs' vet), "Wizard of Oz" (she hasn't seen the movie, but I've told her the story), "going to a parade" (since the Thanksgiving day parade), "daddy goes on a work trip" (we have to drop "daddy" off at the airport and then get excited when he comes home), ballet class, etc.
I love that she enjoys these games and that she is working through real life scenarios, but since it requires complete participation from whatever adult is playing with her, it is pretty exhausting. Plus she will play the same game, switching rolls but with the same script, for an hour. I have noticed that she prefers playing with adults (which I think I started a thread about a while ago), but it's probably because kids won't indulge her in doing exactly what she says.
How can I redirect this into positive behavior? Is it a phase that others have gone through? I'd like to take encourage her in whatever positive ways I can since she clearly loves doing this. Acting classes? ;)
