Is it ok for 10 year old to dress up like a clown or to pretend and play.or should a 5 year old be doing this?

Question

My wife,my sons step mom says he should not have worn a clown outfit or should be over the pretend stage that he is acting like a five year old. I believe it is perfectly normal.can someone give me feed back

Answer 1

You should be thrilled that your son still can pretend.  It's a gift, and one that will not be around forever.  My kids are 8 and heavily into pretend play, and so are the 4th graders that they play with (10 years old).  It's so sad when I see other kids in their class that have no capacity for pretend play.  They are missing out on one of the greatest things childhood has to offer.  Imaginative play is wonderful -- it's not only fun, but it helps kids learn how to negotiate, think on their feet, think out of the box, and really stretch their minds.  It is a gift, and you are right to think it's perfectly normal.

Answer 2

for me, it's normal.

Answer 3

it shows he has a creative imagination. in the real world, that will come in handy. at least he's not setting cats on fire.

Answer 4

All kids do this. It's pretend play.  Over time he will find different stuff that will interst him.

Answer 5

i think it depends on where he was dressing up and playing around. For example, important dinner party...perhaps not. Neighbors over or just for fun, yeah! there's time and place for everything, mate.

i dressed up as an elf and walked around my high school while my other friends dressed up in other costumes. you may think im weird for that but the fact is, we go through our day doing the same old thing and usually when we see others having fun, we say its "inappropriate".  

you should dress up too  

its hilariously pleasant  

:]

Answer 6

does the step mom have kids?  i think its great that he is pretend playing!  dont shut down his imagination!

Answer 7

10 yrs old is still pretending. Smart kids use pretend play.

Answer 8

5 and 10 aren't very different ages....10 year olds are pretty young so it's okay for little kids that age to be doing normal 10 year old stuff

Answer 9

I think thats fine, my almost 13year old sister still loves to play pretend and her friends older sister who is 15 still plays like house and stuff like that with them and is super nice.

Answer 10

The pretend stage can continue until puberty.

It's generally accepted that Puberty is the transition from 'boyhood' to 'manhood'.  

You wife's concern should be more about the frequency of events of how much time the 10 year old is spending in costume.  If he has Bionicles, and Star Wars Toys and Transformers and he pretends with them, this is normal !

However, if he is fixated on a specific fantasy and can't seem to distinguish himself from fantasy, then he might need counseling.

For example, the child wakes up and immediately puts on a costume. He spends the entire day in his fantasy mode insisting that he be called the name of his character. This continues all day and throughout the night. Then when asked to take off the costume and get ready for bed by taking a bath or shower, he has an emotional breakdown with a tantrum and screaming and crying.  If this were the case, I would immediately suspcet he has a form of autism - based on the fact that he had a tantrum with rage and crying in response to the required transition.  

In short, I would suspect that there should be NO concern because a ten year old played 'dress-up' or put on a costume for a an hour or two and pretended - Pubertry is the Great Razor of childhood !

Answer 11

tell the stepmom to give him a break. He's got plenty of time to be boring and grown up when he's older he's only 10 for goodness sake aslong as he aint getting bullied let him have fun!!

Answer 12

Your son is fine...it is your wife who has a problem.

Answer 13

OFCOURSE, it's ok.  He's a kid. It's good for kids to dress up, use their imagination and have fun.

Maybe he should be working at getting get some twelve-year-old girl knocked up?

Answer 14

I think that's fine. Some children are being pushed to grow up too fast.  Let this child enjoy his childhood.  When he grows older his interests will change and he will become more mature.  Some children grow out of this sooner than others, he is just more immature (this is not a bad thing, it's just normal).

Answer 15

Yep, i think it is perfectly normal for people even of much older ages to dress up and have fun.

We are all a child on the inside

and if you think about it, who are the real clowns, the ones who make a living from it??

They are MEN in their 20's 30's 40's and onwards.

Answer 16

The imagination doesn't die once you enter grade school.  I think the world would be much better off if we were all allowed to express ourselves freely.  "Pretend play" is a way for children (and those young at heart) to attach emotions and ideas to physical concepts.  Some do it to work out solutions to their questions about life; some do it because they are outgoing personalities that may eventually take to a stage or a theatre near you!  If your son wants to work under the hood of a car, let him.  If he wants to dress up like a clown and do magic tricks, let him.  What's the harm?

In my humble opinion, NOT allowing him to express himself will only hinder him emotionally (ie, what I want to do/say/feel isn't acceptable - in essence, he'll live day to day in 'pretend play' in order to appease others and become more confused about who he truly is/should be/enjoys as an adult)