Advice on children engaged in rituals

YOUR four-year-old has to ask a certain set of questions before she settles down to sleep — or eat her food in a certain order or line up her dolls just so before she leaves her bedroom.

The psychologist and paediatrician Arnold Gesell — pioneer in the field of child development — found many children approaching age three began engaging in elaborate rituals.

Studies find it manifests particularly from age two to five and tends to centre on transition times like bedtime or mealtimes.