Mastering it all!
One of the most common things I read in parenting advice books, websites, columns and magazines is that you shouldn’t worry if there are variances between your child and the kids at daycare, the park, or playgroup. Kids grow and develop at their own rate. Makes sense. There are so many things they need to do, from growing, to strengthening their grip, learning to communicate, and achieving their goals, whatever they be. Like emptying all the pots out of the drawer and then crawling in. Or moving all the crayons from one place to another, and then back again. 🙂
Of course, development does happen at a somewhat “normal” rate. Once they reach school age, each year brings measurable new skills, higher learning, and greater capabilities, but in the toddler and preschool years, the milestones come at super-speed! Month by month, there’s something new to see, and periods where a skill is discovered, practiced, and perfected in a weekend! “They grow up so fast,” is more than a nostalgic longing, they are literally growing up at a record pace!
Two of the most common questions parents have about their child’s development are around language and mobility. The experts tell us that these skills share a time-line, starting among front-runners at around one year, or even before, and late-bloomers getting the idea around two. When you think about it, that means that the two most important human characteristics, walking and talking, happen at the same time, in the first two years of life! It shouldn’t be too surprising that the children who master one of these skills early on may take a little while longer before they turn their attention to the other. Kids who are quick to develop their physical strengths are often slower to start using words. They do a lot of pointing, and have one or two sounds they use to mean just about everything. But that doesn’t mean their not soaking it all in!
We can help children with their language development by saying the words they’re looking for before handing over the gestured object, narrating the actions they are so quick to accomplish, and literally filling their heads with words. It may feel silly to keep a running monologue of daily living to an apparently disinterested toddler, but rest assured, when your child does take to speech, it will be in leaps and bounds, just like her ability to climb the furniture. 🙂
