As children develop, many parents wonder whether their child is progressing as fast as their peers.
Behavior
Milestones for 3 year olds
As children develop, many parents wonder whether their child is progressing as fast as their peers.
While every child is an individual and not all children advance at the same pace, there are some significant milestones to watch out for. Doctors use these specific milestones to observe your child’s development and whether they are where they should be for their age group.
This can vary due to picky eating around this time. Depending on the day, they might display very little or a large appetite and might begin to prefer only one food. Without giving in to this, it is vital to continue serving three-year-olds a range of foods, allowing them to practice intuitive eating to foster a positive relationship with food.
Genetics and Growth
As briefly mentioned, genetics can impact your child’s height. This can also play a factor in their weight. Ensure you are not trying to force your child towards eating when they don’t want to (if they have already eaten), as this won’t positively impact their growth trajectory and could cause a difficult relationship with food. If you have any concerns about the amount or type of food your child is or is not consuming, speaking to a doctor can help rule out any underlying issues or conditions.
Education resources
What Your Child Can Do
As a three-year-old, your child will rapidly develop new skills and interests. Not all children will hit these milestones at the same time, but as a general rule, you can expect your child to:
- Be able to feed themselves with a spoon
- Easily draw a circle and lines
- Dress in simple clothing (not laces or buttons)
- Have all their baby teeth
- Have good prepositions
- Being able to count objects (this should be four objects when they turn four years old)
- Understanding the past tense
- Having a grasp of longer sentences
- Understanding differences in size
Your Child and Interaction
How your child interacts cannot be easily quantified, based largely on their exposure to others and personality. However, there are some common traits in behavior that three-year-old children tend to display. When seeing how they interact with other people, look out for the following:
An ability to share and display routine, limit the amount your child eats and drinks before bed, and don’t provide any sugary or caffeinated food or beverages. You can also put a wind-down routine to familiarize your child with their bedtime. This can begin around thirty minutes before bed, including turning off the TV or tablet, bathing them, and reading a story in their bedroom.
How to Support Learning and Emotions
While many of how your child develops are positive, you may notice that they begin to feel more fearful during this year. It is vital to ensure your child is emotionally secure and feels safe and happy, while also increasing their learning. You can employ simple strategies that cover both aspects of your child’s development. These are designed to make your child feel more self-assured and confident while acknowledging their fears and insecurities.
- Show them how things work and explain each step in a process or activity
- Set up playdates and encourage them to connect with their peers
- Tell your child stories and have them tell you stories
- Have conversations with your child
- “Sportscast” with your child – tell them what you’re doing to engage them constantly
- Let your child talk to you and praise and encourage them for this
- Allow them to take over with self-care (dressing, teeth brushing, washing) where possible
- Encourage your child to help with tidying toys and other easy tasks
- Engage in make-believe games like dressing up and pretending to be other people or animals
- Sing to your child and encourage them to learn the words and sing along
- Play ball together (rolling the ball, catching, kicking the ball)
- Teach your child colors and simple counting
- Find music you both love and dance together
- Encourage them to build forts out of boxes or towers out of blocks
- Read to your child and have them retell the story or name characters
- Help them to draw and color, showing them how to create new shapes
- Draw different expressions and explain the emotions
- Begin helping your child to do simple puzzles
- Encourage “messy play” – using play dough, making mud pies, or playing with clay
- Play active games like hide and seek
- Encourage your child to play games with other children and family members
- Make sure your child can ride a tricycle in a safe area
- Talk about their feelings with them and ask simple questions
- Always show how proud you are of their creative work by displaying art
- Provide your child with child-sized items you use (utensils, tools), so they can mirror you and play pretend
Three-year-olds seem to develop at lightning speed – it can be hard to keep up! With these milestones in mind, you will better understand where your child might be and how you can encourage them to grow and develop.
