Can my 4 year old be OCD

[JessR2109]

My 4 year old son seems to have some obsessive behaviors. For example, he often wants all the lights in the room to be either on or off.  They all have to be the same.  He has started washing his hands quite frequently.  He'll come up with reasons to wash them.  When he brings a toy outside of his room, he wants it to be in a specific place until I insist that he puts them away.  He repeats himself, usually when aking a question that requires a response.  He does not throw tantrums if I intervene or explain to him why we need the lights on, for example, he is pretty obedient.  He does argue about moving his toys and I have to be very firm about answering the same question over and over again.  While he doesn't do this all day long he does it every day.  I would say he has episodes throughout the day.  I might also add that he cries and gets upset rather easily for his age.  He is a very sweet natured, sensitive and loving little boy.  I would like to know how I should respond to his behaviors and how  I should go about helping him work through them.  I don't want to make things worse or cause him to feel self conscious.  I appreciate your thoughts on the subject.  Thank you for your time.  

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Many four-year-olds display such behavior, so it's too early to conclude that it may be symptomatic of OCD. When the behavior does not interfere with anything, let it go. You don't have to intervene with most of it. When it poses some problem, set limits only at those times. There is nothing to work through, so to speak. Just be calm and casual about the while thing.