mimicry behaviour in a 3 year old

[Bellamaphone]

Hello Ladies,

My daughter is nearly three and has two other young children whom she interacts with on a regular basis. They are both older than her one by a year and one by less. When she spends time with these two children rather than play with them she copies every single thing they do, right down to the position they are standing in and the words they say. They both call her on it constantly as they don' t like it and she knows she is doing it since I have asked her about it before and she responded that they don't like it when they do it.

I am trying not to mention it to her assuming that she will just grow out of it because it is some type of phase or that it is just her eccentricity which i really have no problem with besides the mild annoyance of the children squabbling whenever I visit their mamas.

I feel a bit concerned though that this isn't normal behavior.....any one else experience what I am talking about?

[springmum]

Sounds fairly normal to me. My 3 yr DS loves to copy older kids. I wouldn't say that he copies every single thing, every time he sees them, but he loves to try doing what they are doing.

I think if she knows them well, and they give her attention (although negative attention) for it, it would make sense that she wants to keep doing it - it's a fun game!

Maybe suggest the kids play "simon says" with her to give her something positive to copy? 

If she is unable to play anything else, but copy them, maybe it's time to gently encourage another type of play to help her see that she can play with them in other ways?