Developmental milestones: 2 - 3 years
Your child grows and develops, speaks, plays and learns new things every day. Children are fortunately born with natural, unique and dynamic skills for learning and development. They need a supportive and loving family and a nurturing environment that is suited to innate needs, to grow and develop in the best possible way. Their relationship with their parents and the environment greatly influences the way they maximize their inherent developmental potential.
It is important to remember that although children differ and develop at their own pace, there are predictable milestones in their development that can be monitored to determine whether your child progresses. Once you are familiar with these milestones, you can offer the infants age-appropriate activities, games and experiences that will help them develop and advance.
Developmental milestones
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Language Development
- Speaking to communicate – expression of emotions, asking questions and sharing experiences.
- Naming objects.
- Understanding actions without any accompanying gesture (for example, understanding “give me the cup” without pointing at the cup).
- Combining at least two words in a sentence (for example, mom water, dad come).
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Motor Development
- Running without falling.
- Climbing up and down the stairs supported by the handrail.
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Social Development
- Participating in daily activities.
- Copying a drawing of horizontal, vertical and circular lines.
- Symbolic play (for example, laying a doll down to sleep).
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1Thought-provoking questions
It is important to encourage your child to converse with you through riddles and question games, during your daily routine, for example, while walking to preschool, getting dressed, bathing, during meals, and so on. You can practice comprehension actions and thinking. For example, “what’s in the sky that is lighting up the day?” or “why do we use an umbrella?”
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2Reading books
At this stage, you should begin reading together, even if the child does not know the letters. You can have your child sit in your lap and create pleasant contact or establish eye contact during story time. You do not have to read the exact text, or even finish the entire book. Story time is an opportunity to speak to each other. You can refer to the characters – what they do, think, feel. You should also expand, ask questions and establish a conversation that can even connect events in the book with everyday events.
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3The playground is an excellent place to learn and gain experience
It is important to encourage your child to be active during playtime in the playground, play ball games, climb on the structures in the playground, ride a tricycle or a balanced bicycle, to jump from low surfaces, to challenge their balance, and more.
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4"By myself" - now is the time to encourage independence
You should encourage your child to perform simple daily actions independently: eat unassisted, help around the house (putting toys away, putting laundry in the machine), get dressed or undressed. Tip: you should begin with pajamas in the evening, not clothes for preschool in the morning – it can take longer initially but patience pays off.
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5Marker, oil pastels, pencil
It is important to allow children to experiment, to draw and scribble with various writing utensils, markers and paint. Colors can also be called by name and you can begin to use adjectives: this marker is long, the oil pastel is short, the paint is wet, the pencil is thin, and so on.
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6Between reality and imagination
When playing together, encourage your child to play games involving imagination with familiar game items, while mimicking situations from everyday life. For example, “the doll does not feel well and is going to the doctor” or “the doll needs to shower and go to bed because it is late”.
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7Simplest is sometimes the best
There is no need to buy special games. You can use objects you have at home such as boxes, markers, dolls, blocks. You often find that out of all the games in the living room, children prefer playing with the drawer of the plastic boxes. You should play with them by matching similar types of objects, same colors in different objects, different sizes and more.
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8Maybe it’s too much?
It is important to note your child's preferences and moods, and to adjust the activities and stimuli accordingly so that it will be pleasant. Occasionally, too much stimuli can be overwhelming. If the child looks away or shows signs of irritation and tiredness, try to ‘clean’ the area and reduce stimuli.
Safety
Safety
During all activities with children, it is important that you keep them safe. True, they now appear to be stronger and may want to do everything on their own but the responsibility for their safety and wellbeing is yours.
No less important: take care of yourself
Parenthood can be an incredible as well as an extremely challenging experience. As you know, parenting requires patience, attention and persistence. It is therefore important to take care and do something for yourself that will revitalize you. Taking care of yourself is not a luxury but an inseparable part of being a parent. Try to incorporate time, even if it is brief, for yourself so that you can plan (and do) something that will be good for you. This will allow you to return to your child with renewed energy, more patience and attention.