The Mom I Want to Be

1 to 3 Years Old

 

Between their first and second birthdays, children

 

§  Are energetic, busy and curious;

§  Are self-centered;

§  Like to imitate the sounds and actions of others (for example, by repeating words that parents and others say and by pretending to do housework or yard work with adults);

§  Want to be independent and to do things for themselves;

§  Have short attention spans if they are not involved in an activity that interests them;

§  Add variations to their physical skills (for example, by walking backwards);

§  Begin to see how they are like and unlike other children;

§  Play alone or alongside other toddlers;

§  Increase their spoken vocabularies from about 2 or 3 words to about 250 words and understand more of what people say to them;

§  Ask parents and others to read aloud to them, often requesting favorite books or stories; and

§  Pretend to read and write the way they see parents and others do.

 

Between their second and third birthdays, children

 

§  Become more aware of others;

§  Become more aware of their own feelings and thoughts; 

§  Are often stubborn and may have temper tantrums; 

§  Able to walk, run, jump, hop, roll and climb; 

§  Expand their spoken vocabularies from about 250 to 1,000 words during the year;

§  Put together 2-, 3- and 4-word spoken sentences;

§  Begin to choose favorite stories and books to hear read aloud;

§  Begin to count;

§  Begin to pay attention to print, such as the letters in their names;

§  Begin to distinguish between drawing and writing; and

§  Begin to scribble, making some marks that are like letters.

 

What Toddlers Need

 

1-to 2-year-old children require

 

§  Opportunities to make their own choices: “Do you want the red cup or the blue one?”;

§  Clear and reasonable limits;

§  Opportunities to use large muscles in the arms and legs;

§  Opportunities to use small muscles to manipulate small objects, such as puzzles and stackable toys;

§  Activities that allow them to touch, taste, smell, hear and see new things;

§  Chances to learn about “cause and effect”—that things they do cause other things to happen (for example, stacking blocks too high will cause the blocks to fall);

§  Opportunities to develop and practice their language skills;

§  Opportunities to play with and learn about alphabet letters and numbers; and

§  Opportunities to learn about books and print.

 

2- to 3-year-old children require opportunities to 

 

§  Develop hand coordination (for example, by holding crayons and pencils, putting together puzzles or stringing large beads); 

§  Do more things for themselves, such as dressing themselves; 

§  Talk, sing and develop their language skills; 

§  Play with other children and develop their social skills; 

§  Try out different ways to move their bodies;

§  Learn more about printed language and books and how they work;

§  Do things to build vocabulary and knowledge and to learn more about the world, such as taking walks and visiting libraries, museums, restaurants, parks and zoos.