Infant and toddler developmental milestones

The child learns how to interact with society, communicate with society, solve problems during child development. Through play activities, they learn a lot in their early years and that is the main way of learning. Child development influences other features such as community engagement, play activities, genes, nutrition, health, and other physical activities. Growing physically and emotionally is a very important aspect of infant and toddler developmental milestones.

Infant and toddler developmental milestones refer to the physical, emotional, behavioral, and mental growth of children from ages 0 to 36 months. Mostly healthy infants and toddlers reach each milestone at specific times. An infant or a toddler began to walk, talk or crawl can be varied due to culture, environment, socio-economic status, and genetic factors.

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What happened in Early Child Development

What do you mean by child development? is it totally the changes in your child’s physical growth? The simple and complete answer is “NO”. It combines the other changes such as social, emotional, communication skills, behavior, and thinking patterns. All aspects of the child’s development are connected to one another and it is linked to the whole aspect of the child’s life.

When we consider the first five years, the relationships with family, friends, and society accelerate the development. The life experiences bring additional value to them. The number of connections they make with their brains will mold their personality, emotional well-being, social skills, and many more. it alternatively picks up the physical growth together with. scientific studies show children’s brain development connections are much faster in the first five years of their lives.

THE CHILDREN NEED A CARING ENVIRONMENT TO FUNCTION WELL AND THAT ENVIRONMENT’S SPECIFICATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS STIMULATE THEIR BRAINS  TO DEVELOP THROUGH USE.

AS PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS, YOU CAN GIVE DIFFERENT PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES AND PROVIDE PLENTY OF WAYS TO PLAY. ALSO, MAKE SURE TO MAKE ALLOCATIONS TO  PRACTICE WHAT THEY ARE LEARNING.

Let’s talk about the foundation of child development – That is social contacts and Relationships.

The relationship is the foundation stone. It crafts your child’s viewpoint towards the world and what they see. Eventually, it affects all areas of their development. So you need to identify the people in their world. They may be parents neighbors, caregivers, friends, family members, parents, etc. so children learn about the world through them.

Those surrounding people show your child to be and behave with others. imagine your child sees a kind and respectful relationship daily around them, they automatically start to imitate them.

Why play is special for relationships

Play brings fun and enthusiasm to your child. It creates various opportunities for your child to observe, imitate, experiment, solve problems and make mistakes and learn. When you encourage your child is playing, it gives encouragement to them. That creates confidence to experiment and make mistakes and later that leads to the learning process.

When you spend a lot of time with your kid listening, interacting, and talking, their self-esteem and confidence level will grow up and their key skills such as communicating, thinking, moving, and problem-solving also improve.

Dear parents; the most important thing in your relationship with your kid is to make them aware that you are with them. That massage will mold them into how they adapt to the outer world.

As an example, imagine you and your kid are doing hide and seek as a game. As a parent, you can use your social and emotional skills to make the activity more fun and enjoyable. Then the child is talking, laughing, shouting, running, and doing other sorts of various activities with you. That symbolizes they enjoy the time a lot. SUDDENLY IF THEY LOOK AWAY, that is your baby way of saying “enough play for now”

So give them a break and continue the good relationship. The baby cues will tell you the emotional status of your child. So observe and study your child day by day. That will help you to understand the needs of your child.

Life Benefits of relationships

A good relationship with parents and family members is a key in infant and toddler developmental milestones.

Loving and heartiest interaction with your child builds your child’s confidence, communication, and resilience. These skills are much beneficial for later life tasks such as problem-solving, stress management, and forming healthy relationships in life with other people in adulthood. Strong attachments are the driving force for good mental health in life. So Dear Parents, Build  a warm and positive and responsible relationship with your kids, that is the best kind of shaping your child’s future.

How do Learning and Development happen through Play?

Play is the main way of development and learning. This fun activity gives the children a lot of opportunities to observe and experiment with the environment and people surrounding it. The child needs your additional support and empowerment in doing this. As adults, you need to balance this support and empowerment up to a certain extent. If not your child will become a dependent person. It is more advisable to find themselves about how the world works. That is a major part of their learning process.



Supportive factors that causing child Development

The genes

The genes( tiny biological units that carry all the information needed to grow and develop ) and other supportive factors like physical activities, family environment, neighborhood, healthy diet are some of the things that can influence your kid’s growth and wellbeing.

Healthy Diet

Diet gives energy and the nutrients to grow and develop. Also, it provides a taste sensory experience. Healthy family eating practices and foods can create a good lifestyle for your kids with average growth and development.

Physical Activities

This develops good gross motor skills and fine motor skills for your kid. Also, it develops other motor skills. What skills help them to explore the world. Dear parents, create more opportunities for your kids to be physically active. Both indoor and outdoor play will provide this completely.

Health

You need to be more alert about minor childhood illnesses. Fevers, colds, gastric problems, and other minor problems have long-term effects on developmental milestones. Also, long-term conditions such as delayed milestones in childhood, disability, and other chronic long-term conditions will affect development. You need to consult health professionals for finding solutions for this.

Community support

Positive relationships and interactions with other people such as parents, friends, carers, neighbors, and other people are also directly associated with the child’s development. As parents, it is your duty to make access your child with the other community in playgrounds, learning groups, playgroups, kindergartens, schools, etc.

The order of the development in children is not the same aspect sometimes.

MOST OF THE TIME THE DEVELOPMENTAL LEVELS ARE THE SAME. BUT THE SKILL LEVELS ARE SO DIFFERENT AMONG THE CHILDREN. Differences among children are nothing to worry about most of the time. 

Conclusion

Child development is not purely physical development itself. It is the combination of physical, emotional, social, behavioral, and mental development of a child. With regard to physical development, it is the same for a lot of children most of the time. But other developmental areas may be varied due to the emotional and other sensory stimuli that a child receives.

Infant and toddler developmental milestones refer to the physical, emotional, behavioral, and mental growth of children from ages 0 to 36 months. Mostly healthy infants and toddlers reach each milestone at specific times

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