Raising A Toddler

After the birth of our babies, child growth became instantaneous. As we enjoyed watching our babies grow we provided them with the necessary meals, snacks, naps, changing and play times.

Whether you are a stay at home or a working parent, growth and development at this time is a playful, fun and manageable phase for both parents and baby.

As your baby reaches the toddler years, we call it the terrible twos as we enter the era of great cognitive, emotional and social development. Your child will learn, grow, change and experience mixed emotions right before your busy eyes.

Whatever you say, will be mostly understood by your child, so be careful with your choice of words and what is spoken in front of your toddler.

Your toddler will also learn lots of new physical skills and will typically enjoy role play. Their large and fine motor skills will be ever energetic and ready at this time, so make sure there is enough apparatus and materials available to exhaust this need. Be prepared to walk, run and jump with your child as these little busy bodies will need to release a lot of stored energy.

Cognitive Development

Cognitive Development is preparation for the academic years. Your toddler will be interested in learning and grasping all the skills they can and what better way than for you as parents to provide that interest. This is a great time to grow your child’s intelligence by providing them with all the necessary tools for learning.

If your toddler is attending preschool, the development should not stop there. Continue with their growth at home as learning never stops.

Helping Your Child Learn

• Communicate by talking to them from day one. Teach them clean, healthy habits that needs to be practiced daily, like brushing their teeth and eating breakfast.

• Family values and beliefs must be instilled by including your children in your ideas and views. 

• Read story books to your child, to encourage vocabulary and inspire curiosity.

• Teach your children to think, show them how to solve problems and create solutions.  Provide enough learning materials at home for problem solving like puzzles and mind games.

• Remember to praise and encourage your child constantly for every effort and results achieved whether big or small.
• Set your expectations and reinforce them as often as possible on your child, as this will develop their will power and perseverance. 

Emotional Development

Tantrums will be on a rise at this stage in your child’s behaviour, but it all depends on how you react. Each situation needs to be handled sensibly as this will determine whether the bad behaviour will escalate, multiple or weaken. Make sure your child is well taken care of.

Helping Your Child Behave

• Do not react angrily to every bad behaviour your child demonstrates, but rather show alternative ways to resolve the situation and try not to negotiate.
• As you know your child best, plan ahead to prevent the onset of an outcry.
• Always remain calm and listen carefully using time-out to keep you sane.
• Be consistent in explaining your rules and offer choices so that your children know their limitations and boundaries.
• Look for ways to help your child practise self-control.

Social Development

Where there is love, love will grow. The love that parents have and feel for one another is automatically conveyed to our children. Children in return feel loved, a sense of comfort, safety, confidence and encouragement. In receiving love, toddlers learn how to become friendly, how to communicate using emotions and most importantly learn to understand their challenges and respond to it.

Helping Your Child Socialise

• Teach your child to look into your eyes when talking, as this builds and encourages self-confidence when communicating with other people.
• Encourage them to communicate when meeting family and friends.
• Teach your children the different types of emotions and how to deal with each one positively, e.g., practice patience, take turns.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLAY

SENSORY PLAY – involves the five senses, stimulating cognitive development. Sensory activities enable exploration and through soothing sensory experiences a baby will learn to feel secure and loved.

CONSTRUCTION PLAY – connecting parts into meaningful patterns & structures. There is no limit to a young child’s imagination as this is the start of them being involved in engineering.

IMAGINATIVE PLAY – where children are free to act out experiences that interests them. They experiment with decision making and practise social skills.

LANGUAGE PLAY – provides the tools for self-expression and communication, encouraging listening, speaking, reading and writing.

NUMBER PLAY – explores basic math skills and complex concepts through hands-on-fun.

ARTISTIC PLAY – gives children the confidence to share their thoughts, feelings and ideas.

LOGIC PLAY – enables children to observe, reason, solve problems find connections and make decisions.

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL PLAY – structured fun activities to help children learn to manage their emotions and work on social skills.

REMEMBER:

THE ONLY WAY FOR CHILDREN TO LEARN IS TO TEACH THEM