What We Have Learned About Early Development Patterns And Our Young Children’s Amazing Accomplishments!

Over the years we have had hundreds of children in the early toddler group (one of these days I will review the records and have an exact figure). Because we have so much respect for their intelligence, we resist setting limitations on their skills, comprehension, problem solving, social relationships, independence and self-motivation. 

Ninety percent of these children are with us five days a week, for six to eight hours a day. This gives us a unique perspective from most child development experts who have periodic exposure and mostly clinical observation experience with children who may not know each other well.

As a result, many of the age related expectations that are communicated to parents are untested and below the actual typical behavior and accomplishments we witness all the time.

Following are some examples of what we actually experience and observe in this age group.

-They begin seeking out specific individuals as play partners before their first birthday and now are skilled enough to entertain themselves for 20 to 30 minutes at a time.

They individually follow the routine expectations:

-Getting their own chair and taking it to the snack table.

-Sitting at the door and waiting for the older children to use the bathroom and then line up for outside playtime.

-Carrying board puzzles from the storage bin, completing them, and returning them to the storage bin intact.

-Making choices throughout free play time so that they are combining some play time by themselves and some with a friend with no help from us. The friend is often an older child that they seek out.

-Inviting themselves into work time for the older groups and listening intently to what is being taught.

-Already displaying their unique style at dance time.

-More than ever we find ourselves suggesting interim steps when their request is not reasonable, ie “Let’s do this puzzle first before you try that one in the box” and “Your legs need to be longer for that tricycle so let’s pedal this one first.”

-Learning to count: if they have three and are only allowed two, they know to return one.

Our approach is all about empowering them, building their self-esteem, increasing their attention span and learning to resolve conflict.

We have rarely experience what is referred to as “The Terrible Twos” for two primary reasons.

1. We address an issue as soon as it occurs with these toddlers.

2. We ensure that each child clearly understands what is expected of them. We keep working at improving any unacceptable situation until it is fixed.

No one gets stickers, stars, or tangible rewards because our goal is to help them understand that the accomplishment is the reward.

They do get high fives!

If you are not already understanding how capable they are, take a moment to recall something your child did that you did not think they were capable of!

There are hundreds more examples than we share here! Good luck!