Why children milestones are important?
First let’s start by understanding what are children milestones? Children milestones are designed to be virtual checkmarks to help us as parents evaluate the development progress of our children.
It is often only when something does not seem right we start researching and worrying if everything is ok with our children.
For example we might know that by 18 month most kids walk and if our child does not than we start to start the investigation process. In order for our child to reach their full potential it is much better to be proactive. So following the same example if we know that by 18 month our child is supposed to walk, we should investment the time and buy products at 1 year that will help our child achieve that millstone easier and faster.
It is much better to be ahead of the curve than playing catch up.
Main Types of common developmental children milestones are:
- Physical-involve both large-motor skills and fine-motor skills. The large-motor skills examples: sitting up, standing, crawling, etc. Fine-motor skills examle: as grasping a spoon and holding a crayon.
- Cognitive-child’s ability to think, learn, and solve problems. Example: preschooler learning the alphabet
- Social and Emotional– Interact and play with other people, as well as language development. Example: first friend; gaining a better understanding of their own emotions and the emotions of others. Example: giving a hug to a crying sibling.
- Communication/Language– involve both language and nonverbal communication. Example: first words and a five-year-old learning grammar.
Tips to help your child develop:
- Research your child’s upcoming milestones even if they are 5 years old. There still many millstones that are very important.
- Only concentrate on the immediate millstones but be aware of the next group coming up. If you are trying to do too many things at once, you will overwhelm your child.
- Investing in proper supplies is important. You do not need to go and spend hundreds of dollars every time. Sometimes just using some household supplies is more than enough.
- Patience and encouragement, no pressure-it is important to encourage positive atmosphere with no pressure. That is why staying ahead of the milestones is much better, just in case your child needs more help than usual.
- Keep some kind of record of progress in order to know where your child is what is coming up. This is also very helpful when having more than child to be more aware of your family’s progress vs just generic milestones.
Each child is unique in his own way, some just need a little more help to reach their full potential and be the next superstar.