Child Development Series
My son just turned two years old on Friday (which blows my mind) and I’m reflecting on his development up to this point and to his future growth. This is my first blog in this month’s blog series on child development and I’m going to focus on ages 18 months to 2.5 years old. I believe this age range is incredibly interesting, especially learning about their developmental needs, their personality changes, and how they are viewing the world. Through my son’s life, my husband and I always partner together to learn about what lies ahead and figure out how we are going to help our son learn, grow, and play.
Just like any other parent, I’ve been talking with my friends who have toddlers, I ask them – what did you help your kids with at this age? Many reflect on behavioral development and told me to “get ready for the terrible twos.” Yeah yeah, everyone has heard that. But what did you help your kids with learning, new experiences, life skills, physical milestones, or fine motor skills? Many were unable to remember what they worked on with their kids besides behavior, power struggles, and validating the stage of terrible twos.
I am pretty shocked by this. I mean, think about ALL of the milestones in the first year of life: smiling, lifting head, rolling over, pincer grasps, starting solid foods, crawling, babbling, first words, clapping, waving, laughing, first steps, teeth… teeth… and more teeth. How many first year milestones did I miss with just this list alone? There are SO many milestones for the first year. Then what? Obviously our children’s brains and bodies are still developing after they achieve the 1 year milestone. I believe many people think that a child taking their first steps is the “final” stage in physical development. After that, no one ever asks about anything else like running, balance, and tumbling. What about going up and down stairs without help (and finally removing that damn baby gate), squatting, skipping,or jumping from two feet?
I’ll tell you, the first time my son took off running, he ran down our very steep, paved driveway and that little human was SO FAST and SO BALANCED. He didn’t fall flat on his face and injure himself and he didn’t wait for anyone to run with him. He just bolted with the biggest smile on his face and the cutest laugh ever. He experimented with his body, he took risks, and he was insanely successful.
My thoughts on this… umm.. what…? my son can run?! He can run at 16 months old?! When is he supposed to be able to run, how did he do that, is this going to be his new favorite thing? Mind blown.
So I went to Google (yes, I am that person) and looked to see what else 16-18 month old toddlers can do. I found some ideas and my son was able to do a majority of the milestones on the list. You know where I found some really awesome development ideas? Instagram. I am not the biggest fan of Instagram for a variety of reasons, yet I love Instagram for the goldmine of creative, simple ideas for parents to try out with their kids. I’ll share some of the Instagram accounts I follow and their ideas in this month’s blog series.
Other development ideas I have tried with my son have been based on knowing him, his development journey, meeting him where he is at, and intentionally putting challenges or new experiences in front of him to let him work through. I strongly believe kids need challenges. They need their minds to light up with all the different skills they have from physical strength to creativity – kids need puzzles, challenges, and good frustration to learn. Kids crave movement, engagement from their parents (and caretakers), and they require play. I’d like to share some of these ideas and how my son liked them, or absolutely hated them. I mean, he is his own person (as are each of us) and he definitely knows what he does and doesn’t like.
I want to be very clear – helping my child develop is not a formal teaching moment every single time. It is purposeful play. Let me give you an example of “purposeful play” that is so simple and easy, it just sounds like life and yet is so engaging for kids.
Let’s say your child has been steadily walking around the house for a little while. When you go outside, you usually go for a walk by putting them in the stroller. What if you changed your normal routine from placing them in the stroller to asking them to push the stroller with you? They have to get low, into a bear crawl type position, and use their hamstrings, calves, thighs, glutes, hips, lower back, shoulder blades, and hands to push the stroller. How happy is a little child when they get to push something really big that they can actually move themselves?! How much fun do they have with this? Simple play that helps them grow and it just snowballs into additional play opportunities for your child just by getting them out of the stroller.
When your child gets tired or distracted from pushing the stroller, they usually start walking next to you or maybe they stop and explore some grass, dirt, puddles, snow, or sticks along the way. Dirt is amazing. Leaves are crinkly. Tree branches found on the ground are delightful. Can we use a tree branch to move some leaves? Yup. Can we use the tree branch to make marks in the dirt? You bet we can. Can we taste dirt from the end of the tree branch… wellppp yup I guess that happened. Play, creativity, and experience are all created by changing one part of your typical routine – walk next to the stroller instead of sit and stroll.
As they are walking and playing in whatever they find, the ground surface is uneven with bumps, dips, and hills. This engages their toes, ankles, calves, thighs, glutes, and hips again. They learn balance when something is steep instead of flat and adjust their body to continue walking. They are squatting down to pick things up and even holding the squat to draw or dig in the dirt. Maybe they find a puddle and try stomping or that really cute one legged skip hop thing? As you are walking together (at an insanely slow pace), you are probably talking to your child and pointing out things for them to look at such as leaves, trees, squirrels, birds, deer (if you’re lucky), buildings, cars, motorcycles, etc… Now, a child may only do these things for a few minutes. They may get distracted. They may cry. They may get tired. Cool, no problem. Stick them in the stroller after you’ve tried and keep walking. Then try again another time.
The first time we did this with our son, he pushed the stroller to the end of our steep driveway, fell twice, and then pushed the stroller to the end of the road just before the bike path. He then walked right into a puddle and stomped in it for about 5 minutes. Yes, the same puddle for 5 minutes. Then he was tired and I put him in the stroller. Fast forward 8 months and my son can walk / jog / run (it’s a mix of all 3) over a mile before he gets tired. Pretty awesome right? Just this activity alone has provided so many outdoor opportunities for him, we have met more people in our community by being outside, and he ASKS to go outside all the time.
After reading this example, does this sound like a formal teaching moment in a child’s development? Not at all. This is an experience intentionally created by understanding that your child can walk AND changing one piece in their environment (push the stroller themselves instead of sitting in the stroller) because they CAN walk already. Being purposeful behind play can be this simple and have compounding effects on the child’s growth and confidence.
Bringing this back to my son turning 2, I am looking at his development and want to share examples with you on what I’m trying with my son. I’ll be covering the following topics in this month’s blog series about child development for 18 month to 2.5 year olds:
Gross motor skills
Fine motor skills
Imagination and memory
Speech and comprehension
The body
Empathy
Life skills
Social skills
Follow along in my journey of learning and share your experiences and thoughts with me as this month’s blog series unfolds. Next blog posting will be on April 4, 2024.
