TRACK YOUR TODDLER’S DEVELOPMENT FROM 1 TO 2 YEARS.
Text Pippa Naudé
Toddlers are busy. One study found that between 12 and 19 months, toddlers who can walk will take an average of 14 208 steps in a day, covering a distance of 4 kilometres. They will also fall roughly 102 times.
This energy and resilience are a perfect combination for rapid learning and development. And it’s not just in the realm of physical movement; toddlers show these same qualities with mental pursuits and emotional exploration, too.
In their second year, your toddler will start to accomplish increasingly complex movements. Here are some of the big skills they will be mastering:
- Walk by 18 months
- Possibly run by 24 months
- Go up and down stairs
- Climb up and down things
- Stand on tip toes
- Stand on one leg
- Kick a ball
- Propel themselves with their feet on a 4-wheeled bike
- Throw a ball overhand
- Drink from a cup
- Eat with a spoon
- Scribble with a crayon
- Help dress & undress themselves
Bath paint activity idea
Toddlers love getting messy, but moms don’t love the mess. The solution? Bath paints!
Follow this recipe to make your own bath paints. Then strip off your tot and pop them in the bath with this paint and a brush and let them go wild. At the end, simply rinse it all down the drain, leaving everything and everyone cleaner than before!
Step 1: Mix 1 cup of kid-safe bodywash/shampoo/conditioner with 1 cup of corn starch. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water if you would like to thin out the consistency of the mixture.
Step 2: Split your paint into small pots with lids, so you can keep any leftovers. You will want one pot for each colour you are making.
Step 3: Add a few drops of food colouring to each pot (one colour per pot, unless you want to mix them to make new colours).
Step 4: Have fun!
Growing brains
Language development precedes speech, so your toddler will understand far more than they can say. This is why many early childhood educators recommend you talk to your child often. Talk about what you are doing and your immediate environment, and try to include all of the different senses (touch, taste, small, sight and hearing). Remember that at this age they are too young to understand more abstract concepts such as time, size and space.
- Use objects correctly
- Put things in a container, and take them out
- Find hidden things
- Start categorising things into groups, e.g. animals, food, the colour red etc.
- May use one hand more than the other (the dominant hand)
- Point to show what they want
- Point to identify people or objects
- Use gestures, such as nodding or shaking head no
- Follow two-step instructions, such as “Please choose a book and give it to daddy.”
- Can say as many as 150 to 300 words by two years
Getting all social & emotional
Your child is making so many new discoveries about the world, many of which are scary. They’re also experiencing big emotions which they don’t really understand and can’t control. Try to bear this in mind when they ‘act out’ – they are not trying to be difficult, they just haven’t yet learnt how to process their feelings in a positive way. At the same time, don’t mistake empathy for permissiveness. Toddlers find it reassuring when you consistently enforce clear, simple rules. It creates predictability and security in their world.
At this stage your child should:
- Imitate actions and words
- Be interested in other children, but at this stage will still only play alongside them (not with them)
- Be interested in using the toilet
- Show affection towards familiar people
- Be shy or nervous with strangers or new places
- Separation anxiety peaks around 18 months
- Fight for independence
- Get frustrated when cannot do things properly
- Have temper tantrums that begin around 18 months and can continue to 36 months
How to handle tantrums
Clinical psychologist Dr Rebecca Schrag Hershberg, Phd and author of The Tantrum Survival Guide, says the best way to deal with a tantrum is to pause before you react. She says, “The way you respond to your child’s tantrum behaviour is critically important and can have a big impact on both how long a tantrum lasts and how bad it gets. The more you are able to keep your cool during your little one’s emotional outburst, the more likely it will pass relatively quickly and painlessly.”
She recommends a number of techniques to help you “pause, keep calm, and parent on” during a tantrum. These include:
Check in with yourself: Take a few moments to see how you are doing. Have you had a bad day? Are you tired, stressed, or hungry? Then try to respond as if you were living your best life – well rested, relaxed and well-fed.
Be present and listen: Don’t rush in and try to fix things or distract your child. Give them the space they need to express themselves and try to understand and accept these feelings without judgement.
Use touch: If appropriate, rest your hand on your child’s back or hug them. This kind of loving touch can be very calming.
Practice loving kindness towards yourself: Speak to yourself, and treat yourself, as you would to a good friend in your situation.
Radically accept toddlerhood: Understand and then accept that a 2-year-old cannot manage their behaviour. Dr Hershberg says most children can only start to do this from 3 ½ years. It then takes many more years for them to master it.
Use the tantrum as a learning opportunity: Afterwards, try to understand what triggered it, how you could have avoided it, and maybe even how you could have dealt with it better. This insight will help you with the next one.
Worried about your child’s development?
Remember that these milestones develop throughout your child’s second year, which means they will probably be able to do most of them by their second birthday. If you are concerned with their development, speak to your healthcare provider to put your mind at ease.