Skip to content

Tag Archives: 2 year old

Child development chart: Preschool milestones

By Mayo Clinic staff

Every child grows and develops at his or her own pace. Still, child development tends to follow a fairly predictable path. Check out these general child development milestones for ages 2 to 5. If your child’s development seems to be lagging behind in certain areas, share your concerns with your child’s doctor.

Age 2 Age 3 Age 4 Age 5
Language skills
Links two words together Identifies most common objects Describes the uses of common objects Uses compound and complex sentences
Speaks clearly enough for parents to understand about half the words Says first name and age Speaks clearly enough for strangers to understand Says full name and address
Knows some adjectives (big, happy) Uses pronouns (I, you, we, they) and some plurals Uses verbs that end in “ing” and some irregular past tense verbs, such as ran and fell Uses future tense
Speaks about 50 words Answers simple questions Tells simple stories Understands rhyming
Social skills
Becomes aware of his or her identity as a separate individual Imitates parents and playmates Cooperates with playmates Wants to be like friends
May become defiant Takes turns Tries to solve problems Follows rules
Becomes interested in playing with other children Expresses affection openly Becomes interested in new experiences Understands gender
Separation anxiety begins to fade Easily separates from parents Becomes more independent Wants to do things alone
Cognitive skills
Begins to play make-believe Plays make-believe Becomes involved in more complex imaginary play Uses imagination to create stories
Begins to sort objects by shape and color More confidently sorts objects by shape and color Prints some capital letters and names some colors Correctly names at least four colors and counts at least 10 objects
Understands some spatial concepts (in, on) Understands more spatial concepts (over, under) Understands more complex spatial concepts (behind, next to) Distinguishes between fantasy and reality
Scribbles Copies a circle Draws a person with two to four body parts Copies a triangle and other geometric patterns
Finds hidden objects Understands the concept of two Understands the concepts of same and different Understands the concepts of time and sequential order
Physical skills
Walks alone and stands on tiptoe Walks up and down stairs, alternating feet Stands on one foot for at least five seconds Stands on one foot for at least 10 seconds
Climbs on furniture and begins to run Kicks, climbs, runs and pedals tricycle Throws ball overhand, kicks ball forward and catches bounced ball most of the time Hops, swings and somersaults
Builds a tower of four blocks or more Builds a tower of more than six blocks Dresses and undresses May learn to skip, ride a bike and swim
Empties objects from a container Manipulates small objects and turns book pages one at a time Uses scissors Brushes own teeth and cares for other personal needs

Some people generally old who are facing sundry soundness problem, such persons can get drugs from the Web without any problem. There are a number of reliable internet drugstores that will offer legitimate discounts. Finasteride is one of the unimprovable treatment options of all season. If you’re concerned about Finasteride, you have to learn about propecia price and propecia cost. How you can get detailed information about finasteride price? Here are few key points about Finasteride and finasteride cost. Alopecia is the general medical term for hair loss. By the way, there are some of possible explanations and pharmacists are commonly able to pinpoint your problem through tests. Of course, take Finasteride exactly as preassigned by your health care provider. Remember that purchasing medicines without a prescription humanity usually get false generics.

Tips on Avoiding the Hurried Child

This is another interesting topic from the parenting course I am taking from a local community college.  It is about the hurried child.  Hurried children are basically the ones missing out on play time during their younger years.  Instead, they are hurried by having strict and busy schedules, they are pressured to perform well (excelling in academics and sports), and they are exposed to things that their young minds cannot yet understand (drugs and sex).

Some parents feel pressured to sign their children up for as many activities as possible.  They are afraid that they are not stimulating their children enough if they just go home and play.  Apparently, a little bit of boredom is ok as this can initiate creative imagination in children.  For example, children in third world countries do not have the luxury to sign-up for soccer or gymnastics classes.  To ease their boredom, they play soccer with their next door neighbors instead.  A ball made of straw is used (example of imagination being activated) instead of a real soccer ball. 

How to avoid having a hurried child: 

(thanks to one of my classmates who compiled this list)

1. Make sure you give you children a good amount of unstructured time.  Encourage your children to be children.  Give them lots of free time to explore their worlds and play.   Sometimes, you can get involved with them in this play.  Other times, leave them alone to use their imagination and play on their own. Knowing that there is a link between boredom and creativity means that sometimes, we need to set the stage for kids to initiate the play.

2. Before signing your child up for the next class or activity, talk with them and ask a few questions.  For example:  “What is your favorite thing about this (class, sport, event)?”, ” What do you wish you had more time to do?”, “Why do you want to be involved in this?”, “What are you willing to give up in order to have time to be involved?”,  After the discussion, review his or her answers and evaluate the true desire or lack thereof to guide you in making future plans. I thought this was a great list of questions to consider when signing your children up for activities.   Give your children a few days to think about it so they can make an informed decision.

3. Parents should appreciate each of their children for their individual talents, interests, and abilities. Try to involve them in activities that would not have a negative impact in your family schedule.  There are some things you can just do at home with your children to encourage and use their special talents.  It doesn’t always have to be a class outside of the home.

4. “ It is our job as parents to know where our children are, who their friends are, as well as what they are reading, watching on television, viewing on the Internet, listening to, and being influenced by.” I liked the idea of not viewing as much TV. We need to remember that they are better off left to their own devices and find something to do, than to just plop them in front of the TV.

5. Practice saying “I love you” to one another. It’s absolutely impossible to say those three words and be frantic at the same time. I love the idea of making sure these words are spoken frequently in the home. It is true that you can’t say them when you are crazy and running around. Also, just slowing down in general and trying to have a calm presence helps.

6. Finally, we are not just talking about “the hurried child” here but also “the hurried parent”. I think we need to look carefully at our own schedules and make sure we aren’t doing too much outside the home. It is hard to balance time alone with each individual child in the family, play time for the kids, structured activities for the kids, alone time for each parent, date night for parents, and then family time. There just aren’t enough hours in a week to make sure all those needs are met,.  The goal I think is to continue to be aware of how every individual is feeling and see what can be adjusted if the balance gets out of whack. Good food for thought!

Some humanity generally old who are facing sundry soundness problem, such persons can get drugs from the Web without any problem. There are a number of reliable internet drugstores that will offer legitimate discounts. Finasteride is one of the perfect treatment options of all time. If you’re concerned about Finasteride, you have to learn about propecia price and propecia cost. How you can get detailed info about finasteride price? Here are few key points about Finasteride and finasteride cost. Alopecia is the general medical term for hair loss. By the way, there are some of possible explanations and pharmacists are commonly able to pinpoint your problem through tests. Of course, take Finasteride exactly as set by your soundness care purveyor. Remember that purchasing medicines without a prescription people usually get false generics.

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim Fay and Charles Fay

Love and Logic Book Summary and Notes

By Lily Talley

There are so many parenting books out there and the Love and Logic book is one of the good ones.  It is filled with practical advise on parenting.  It also makes the techniques fun.  Some parenting books, after reading it, makes you feel inadequate.  Although it gave you some good advice, you feel that you are not capable of implanting them.  The Love and Logic book however is filled with encouragement for parents.  It did not give any quick fixes but techniques that you can use over time.  I started using the techniques to the kids that I’m nannying and the results are remarkable.  There is still room for improvement but the kids have positive responses with the techniques so far.

The Love and Logic Book  has four main ideas.  It encourages parents to:

1.  Build self-concept

2.  Share the control or decision making

3.  Offer Empathy then consequences

4.  Share the thinking and problem solving

Formula for high-self concept:

Ÿ         Offer empathy, understanding and love

Ÿ         Allow children to struggle and solve their own problems

Ÿ         Encourage children to learn to succeed through personal thinking and learning

Ÿ         They must know how to handle situations without warning

Share control by giving the types of choices that do not cause a problem for you.  Allow children to make choices within the safety of limits.

Provide a strong dose of empathy before delivering consequences.

Ÿ         Parents must allow children to make mistakes.

Ÿ         Do not respond with anger.  With anger, children go into survival mode rather than learning mode, they think about escaping or getting revenge.

Ÿ         Sincere empathy works wonders.

Share the thinking: 4 Powerful Actions

  1. Raise a child who feels good about him/herself.
  2. Develop a strong bond of love and trust with your child.
  3. Allow your child to make plenty of mistakes and learn from them.
  4. Give your child plenty of practice thinking and solving problems.

The more empathy and understanding we display, the more our children are forced to think about the pain they have created for themselves.

Guidelines for giving choices:

Ÿ         Give 99% of the choice when things are going smoothly.

Ÿ         Provide choices on issues that are not dangerous and don’t create a problem for anyone on the planet.

Ÿ         Always offer two options and both makes you happy.

Ÿ         In 10 seconds flat, choose for the child if he or she doesn’t.

Bonding requires basic limit setting.  When children fail to find loving limits, they feel scared.

Set limits in a loving way:

Ÿ         Replace anger and frustration with empathy.

Ÿ         Replace threats and warnings with simple actions.

Ÿ         Set limits you can enforce.

Ÿ         Give away the control you don’t need.

Real world consequences happen without warning.  Children should understand that consequences of poor choices can happen without warning.

Set limits once and follow through with loving actions instead of warning.  Teach how to make wise decisions the first time.

Save most of the attention for happy times.  Ignore them when they misbehave.

Enforceable Statements:

Ÿ         Don’t tell kids something we cannot make them do, otherwise, we give away power and credibility.

Ÿ         Enforceable statements describe limits we can actually enforce 100% of the time.

Ÿ         For example:  Instead of saying ‘No fighting!”, say something like: ‘I charge $2/hour to list to fighting in the car.  Will you be paying me with chores, cash, or some of your toys?.

Use the Energy Drain technique:  Say ‘I’m having an energy drain’.  Child pays with chores or toys.

Delaying consequences gives us time to think of what consequence is appropriate and get over our anger.

Neutralizing Family Arguments:

Ÿ         Go brain dead-don’t think about what the child has just said.

Ÿ         Choose an empathetic one liner.

Ÿ         Repeat the one liner over and over again.  For example: “I love you too much to argue”.

Ÿ         Walk away if child continues.

Get you kids to do chores:

Ÿ         Start doing chores together as soon as your child can walk.

Ÿ         Model doing your own chores in front of the kids.

Ÿ         Develop a toy ‘lock-up’.

Ÿ         Give choices about age-appropriate chores.

Ÿ         Don’t pay children for doing chores.

Ÿ         If they forget, you do the chore.  They will them pay for it with a toy (or anything you think is appropriate).

Summary of the book Parenting with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and Charles Fay

Some humanity generally old who are facing sundry health problem, such persons can get drugs from the Web without any problem. There are a number of reliable internet drugstores that will offer legitimate discounts. Finasteride is one of the perfect treatment options of all when. If you’re concerned about Finasteride, you have to learn about propecia price and propecia cost. How you can get detailed data about finasteride price? Here are few key points about Finasteride and finasteride cost. Alopecia is the general medical term for hair loss. By the way, there are some of possible explanations and pharmacists are commonly able to pinpoint your problem through tests. Of course, take Finasteride exactly as set by your health care provider. Remember that purchasing medicines without a recipe men usually get false generics.

123 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12

123 Magic:  Effective Discipline for Children 2-12

By Thomas Phelan

Book Summary by Lily Talley

HI parents!  I just want to pass this on again to you guys.  I just finished this book and it has some great tips on parenting.  I highly recommend buying the book and then reading these notes.  It has tons of practical tips on many disciplining situations you can think of.  Hope this helps!

3 Steps to Effective Parenting

  1. Controlling obnoxious behaviour
  2. Encouraging good behaviour
  3. Strengthening your relationship with your chil

Stop Behaviour

Ÿ         Children are doing something you want them to stop

Ÿ         These are frequent and minor everyday hassles that kids present to you.  For example:  whining, disrespect, tantrums, arguing, teasing, fighting, pouting, yelling

Start behaviour

Ÿ         Children are doing something you would like them to start

Ÿ         For example:  positive activities such as cleaning their rooms, doing homework, practicing the piano, getting up and out in the morning, going to bed, eating supper, being nice to people

Use the Counting Technique (1-2-3) for STOP behaviour.

Use these 7 Tactics for  START behaviour.

  1. Praise
  2. Simple request
  3. Kitchen timer
  4. Docking system
  5. Natural consequence
  6. Charting
  7. Variation of 1-2-3

Parents’ big mistake is that they treat children like little adults.

Ÿ         They use words to explain things to kids.

Ÿ         You can add more talking when they are older.

Ÿ         One explanation is fine, repeated explanation gets us in trouble.

2 Biggest Discipline Mistakes

  1. Too much talking
  2. Too much emotion

Too much talking and explaining irritates and distracts children.  If you show your kids that you are upset they will feel powerful.  You need to be consistent, decisive and calm.

Explanations are appropriate when the behaviour is new or unusual.  When you talk more your discipline message fundamentally changes.  (“You don’t have to behave unless I can give you 5-6 reasons why you should“.)

Tips:

What to do in public?

Ÿ         The long-term welfare of your kids comes before short-term worries about what others are going to think.

Ÿ         Use a time-out place (or the car).

Ÿ         Keep moving, don’t let the tantrum disrupt you from what you are doing.

Ÿ         Don’t take them unless you have to.

Sibling Rivalry

Ÿ         Count both kids that are fighting.

Ÿ         Never ask ‘What happened?’ or ‘Who started it?’ because they are not gonna admit they started the fight.

Ÿ         Don’t expect an older child to act more mature during a fight that a younger child, punish them both fairly.

Time-out does not start until tantrum is over.  You start the timer for the time-out after they have calmed down.

6 Kinds of Testing and Manipulation

  1. Badgering=the child keeps after you and after you and after you, trying to wear you down.  For example:  please please please!!! Can I have some?  Can I?  Can I?
  2. Temper (Intimidation)=tantrums are prolonged if a) the child has an audience b) the adults involved continue talking arguing or pleading to the youngster c) if the adult doesn’t know what to do
  3. Threat=“I’m going to run away!”
  4. Martyrdone=“No one here loves me anymore!”
  5. Butter-up=the child tries to make you feel good, the parent can feel scared that they might frustrate this good feeling if they don’t give what they want.  This is an advance set-up for parent guilt.  For example:  “Mom you have such great eyes!” and then later says can I have a twinkie 30 mins before dinner.
  6. Physical tactics=physical attact, breaking something, running away

Whining is a type of badgering and martyrdom.

Develop a major/minor system.  Develop major/minor consequences for major/minor behaviour.

Lying

2 Types of Lying

  1. Lying by making up stories and boost ego
  2. Lying to avoid trouble

With lying either you know the truth or you don’t.  Don’t keep asking to find out the truth, this just gives children more opportunity to practice lying.  Believe what they say, if you find our later they lied, punish the behaviour.

The 7 Start  Behaviour Tactics

  1. Positive Reinforcement=use a lot of praise tailored to the child, not to the point of embarassment, praise them in front of other people and give them unexpected praise.
  2. Simple request=when making a simple request, use a matter of fact voice.  For example:  “John it’s dinner time.”
  3. Kitchen timers=use the timer to measure the time you’re giving them to finish the task.  For example:  You have 5 mins to tidy up the table, then set timer straight away.  When 5 mins is up they need to be done or a consequence will be given.
  4. Docking system=“If you don’t do the work, I will do it for you buy you pay me”.  Have a source of funds, allowance or save cash birthday gifts for this technique.
  5. Natural consequences=if they don’t wear their coat, let them feel the cold later.  Hopefully being cold (natural consequence) will teach them the lesson.
  6. Charting=use a calendar to keep track of how the child is doing and give incentive, use a lot of praise with this
  7. Counting for brief start behaviour=use this for brief things you want them to do but they are refusing.  For example:  hanging up their coat, feeding the cat

My favorite method that I also use with the kids I nanny.  The Garbage Bag method.  Tell the kids to pick up the things they don’t want in the garbage bag by 6pm.  After 6pm everything not picked-up will go in the bag and the children lose the right to use the item until 6pm the next day.  You determine the time for this.

This book has a lot more tips on how to use the 7 tactics.  My advice is to get the book and use this summary to refresh your memory when it’s time to discipline the kids.

THERE IS NO SINGLE FORMULA FOR PARENTING.  EACH FAMILY HAS DIFFERENT WAYS OF PARENTING THEIR CHILDREN.  I BELIEVE THAT THESE BOOKS ARE HERE FOR US TO LEARN FROM AND NOT TO DICTATE HOW WE SHOULD RAISE OUR CHILDREN.  HOW WE RAISE OUR OWN CHILD IS STILL FOR US TO DECIDE, AND DECISIONS SHOULD BE MADE FOR THE BETTER OF THE CHILD.

Some people generally old who are facing sundry heartiness problem, such persons can get drugs from the Web without any problem. There are a number of reliable internet drugstores that will offer legitimate discounts. Finasteride is one of the unimprovable treatment options of all time. If you’re concerned about Finasteride, you have to learn about propecia price and propecia cost. How you can get thorough information about finasteride price? Here are few key points about Finasteride and finasteride cost. Alopecia is the general medicinal term for hair loss. By the way, there are some of possible explanations and pharmacists are commonly able to pinpoint your problem through tests. Of course, take Finasteride exactly as prescribed by your health care producer. Remember that purchasing medicines without a prescription folk usually get false generics.

When is my child ready for potty training?

When is My Child Ready for Potty Training?

Potty training young children can be frustrating for parents and child care providers.  One way to alleviate that frustration is to acknowledge that there is no perfect age at which potty training must be completed. The ability to master toilet training is a developmental process. A good number of children are not physiologically ready to be toilet trained till approximately l8-24 months, while some may not be ready until 30 months or older. The American Academy of Pediatrics has specific guidelines for evaluating when a child is ready for potty training.

Look for the following signs of potty training readiness:

  • Your child stays dry at least two hours at a time during the day or is dry after naps
  • Bowel movements become regular and predictable.
  • Facial expressions, posture or words reveal that your child is about to urinate or have a bowel movement.
  • Your child can follow simple instructions
  • Your child can walk to and from the bathroom and help undress.
  • Your child seems uncomfortable with soiled diapers and wants to be changed
  • Your child asks to use the toilet or potty
  • Your child asks to wear big-kid underwear

How can you tell if a child wants or needs to go to the potty? You can observe the signals the child gives that he or she may be ready to go to the potty. If a child starts wiggling or grabbing the diapers, that may be a sign that he or she wants to or is aware of the desire to urinate. On the other hand some children go into a corner or behind furniture and squat, while having a bowel movement. They may also grunt, cross their legs, peer at the diaper bulge, etc.  When either a parent or child care providers can make any of these observations they should then be communicated from parents to child care provider and vice versa.

A child care provider, daycare center, or preschool teacher plays a large role in toilet training.

Firstly, never pressure a child to use the potty. It is best to introduce them to the potty and give them exposure to the experience.

Daycare providers should regularly ask the child if he or she would like to go potty. If the child refuses, you may ask the child to join the other kids while they use the restroom. This is how you provide exposure and experience. If the child is interested, then help them try it out.  Again do not pressure the child. Make sure that he or she can take off their own clothes to use the potty.

Once a child has shown interest in the potty they are probably wearing pull-ups. When he or she has used the toilet for a few weeks, inform them that they can bring underwear to school if they would like.

Toilet training can be a very positive and pleasant experience for both the child and the parent or caregiver especially when they work together play a supportive role in this developmental process.

OwnADaycare.com gives you all the information you need to start your own daycare business. We also have a listing of <a href=”http://www.ownadaycare.com/jobs/“; title=”childcare jobs”>childcare jobs</a> nationwide.

Some humanity generally old who are facing sundry health problem, such persons can get drugs from the Web without any problem. There are a number of reliable internet drugstores that will offer legitimate discounts. Finasteride is one of the perfect treatment options of all season. If you’re concerned about Finasteride, you have to learn about propecia price and propecia cost. How you can get detailed information about finasteride price? Here are few key points about Finasteride and finasteride cost. Alopecia is the general medical term for hair loss. By the way, there are some of possible explanations and pharmacists are commonly able to pinpoint your problem through tests. Of course, take Finasteride exactly as preassigned by your health care purveyor. Remember that purchasing medicines without a recipe people usually get false generics.