Developmental Milestones Parents Must Watch Out For
When our baby and child reach developmental milestones, it brings us the greatest happiness and excitement as parents. It will benefit you greatly to know what to anticipate from your child, especially in the early years when it seems like a new skill is learned every day.
Developmental milestones are markers of a child’s progress in their physical, mental, and social/emotional development. Milestones include things like:
- Rolls over, sits up, crawls, walks
- Speaks a few words, babbles and then starts combining words
- Displays emotions, mimics others, and forms attachments
- Runs, jumps, hops and catches a ball
- 2- or 3-word statements are used, and questions are asked.
- Creates imaginary companions, pretend play, and collaborative play among peers
What You Need to Know About Milestones
Parenting isn’t about trying to gauge our child’s development against that of others. There shouldn’t be a problem if one of our friends’ children happened to be walking ahead of ours. Many infants begin walking between the ages of 11 and 15 months, while some may do it earlier or later. This is an important developmental milestone for infants, and parents should be happy about it. Though each child develops at their own rate, it’s crucial to keep in mind that some children may walk sooner or later than others. It would encompass a broad spectrum of typical development. There are, however, some early and late bloomers who are also growing normally.
Five Developmental Milestones
Below are some of the behavioral or physical checkpoints to watch out for.
- Social & emotional development: smiling, making eye contact, imitating facial expressions, expressing emotions and developing an attachment to caregivers.
- Communication: cooing, babbling, first words, pointing to objects, following simple commands.
- Physical development: head control, rolling over, crawling, walking, fine motor skills (grasping objects).
- Cognitive development: tracking objects, recognizing familiar faces, solving problems, paying attention and following routines.
- Sensory development: responding to sounds, recognizing smells, reaching for objects, exploring with hands and mouth.
How Parents Can Help
At SimplySmart Child Care Centre & Montessori, we promote healthy parent-child engagement via activities including playing on the floor, going on outings, conversing, and singing. Making it a priority to be present and active when you are together is one of the best bits of advice. At SimplySmart we have a Developmental milestones Report that is completed by your child’s educators on our App, so you are up to date with your child’s progress. It is important to know that the report is based on Nipissing developmental scale which is used across many regions to access overall development of a child but it is an average. Every child has their own pace at which they grow and learn and this is influenced by many factors. The report is directional for parents to see areas where they can work with educators to ensure learning continues at home.
We have all heard the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child”, therefore parents and educators need to work together to provide an optimum learning environment for children.
You can attempt the following activities:
- Sing a short song with phrases that are repeated together. This facilitates learning and listening.
- Give your child a spoon so they may hold it, chew on it, and pound on it.
- When entering or leaving a room, say “Hi” or “Bye” and give a wave. This will aid in persuading others to mimic these little movements.
- Throw and catch a ball with your child
- Hop on one foot with your child
Remember, every child develops at their own pace, so these milestones should be used as general guidelines. If you have any concerns about your child’s development, it’s best to consult with your family doctor.
Why Choose SimplySmart?
If you want to join a community created to help parents, we would like you to consider using SimplySmart Child Care Centre & Montessori for your child and family’s needs. Our daycare locations will be enrolling for the Universal childcare agreement, so you can rest assured that you will get the benefit from the Ontario Childcare deal.
To learn more about our Play-Based, Montessori programs and preschool activities please visit https://simplysmartchildcare.com/play-based-or-montessori/.
We have Daycare locations in many parts of the GTA, book a tour today!