Understanding who your child is, is essential for promoting healthy development. If you know what their strengths are and know where they need support, then you are on the right track for your 2-3 year olds' development. When children are two years old they can usually speak between 200-250 words. When they are three, they can put two sentences together containing three or four words. Even with all of this vocabulary, toddlers still have a hard time expressing their emotions. This can leave them very frustrated and powerless. There are a couple things you can do to help. Having conversations with your child will help boost their language skills and makes them feel important. Try to find out what your child likes to talk about and engage them in a conversation. Also read to them as much as possible. By letting your two year old know that you understand the frustration they are experiencing will help calm them down and will make it much easier for them to tackle the challenge. Figure out how your child handles their difficult feelings and situations. This will help you to calm them down and show them the right way to handle their emotions. Playtime is very important for your two year old child. It will build in all areas of their development. When they play, they interact more with friends, they use pretend play to help understand things in a more complex way and they learn important concepts like big and small and up and down. Try to get more involved in their pretend play. Note what they like to pretend to do and join the fun. When you do this it will help build a strong connection between the two of you and it can help encourage creativity. Making plans for your child to spend time with other children will give them the pleasure in making new friends. The more time they get spending with other children the more they learn to get along with each other. It is a good social skill to build on. As many of you know, two year olds are very active, with their constant running, jumping and climbing. These motor skills allow them the freedom to explore in new ways. Try to spend as much time outside as you can. There will be plenty of room to run and jump safely. Taking them to a park to play with other children is great. Get your child involved in family sports like swimming and soccer on the lawn. They will benefit a lot from it and let's not forget the benefits of nap time!! Go on walks with them and take time to discuss what they see. Compare things like houses and cars, it will help teach concepts of big and small. They will get a chance to explore other things that they see. If you can't go outside due to weather then create a safe place in your home that they can prowl around and explore different stations you create. These few steps will help your two year old develop the skills for a bright imagination and prepare them socially. They will also learn to express themselves better and reduce the frustrations for both of you. |
