Your Toddler’s Timetable
During the second year, it seems as if your toddler is changing every day. These changes are exciting, and it’s natural to want to brag about your children’s achievements. It’s also normal to wonder if your child is ahead of schedule, on target or lagging behind.
Before you start comparing your child to other children in the same age group, remember that your child is unique. Although books and charts can tell you when most children will perform a certain activity, individual children develop according to their own unique timetable. Your child may race ahead of the average child in certain areas and lag behind in others – both of which are perfectly normal developmental patterns.
Parents of premature babies may already have discovered that their child’s developmental timetable is different from full-term babies of the same age. This difference continues through the second year, gradually becoming less noticeable until the third year, when there is little difference between the skill levels of premature and full-term babies.
In addition to developing on her own timetable, each child also has her own way of learning:
• Some children follow the old proverb, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” These children are eager to try new things and are not intimidated by repeated failure. Give them a safe, supportive environment in which to experiment, and share their joy when they finally succeed at a new task.
• Other children are watchers. They watch other children playing and they watch adults at work, but they show no interest in trying a task themselves until they’re ready to do it right. When they’re ready, they suddenly get up and walk across the room, ask for a cookie using a complete sentence, or put all the shapes in the shape sorter. Give these children a patient and stress-free environment, then let them surprise you with their accomplishments.
Most children fall in between these two extremes, but whatever your child’s style, try to respect and support it. There are many ways to reach the same goal. The path your child chooses may be different from the path chosen by children in her playgroup, childcare center or even in her family.