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What are the Developmental Milestones in Toddlers?

Developmental milestones let you know if your child is on track or if he/she is being left behind. This way, you can immediately take measures so that your child can keep up or spot any problems early on. If there are concerns, you can bring your child to a doctor or talk first with the educators in the early learning centre. This early and immediate action is important for your child’s overall physical and cognitive development.

What are the developmental milestones in toddlers?

For children ages 1 to 2 years, expect them to be responsive and communicative. They always try to communicate by talking or making a few gestures (such as raising or waving their hands). They also naturally move around and try to seek the attention of people already familiar to them. In their age, they already feel some sense of identity and connection.

At age 2 to 3 years, they’re starting to deepen their awareness about how they connect with other children (e.g. they already sense fairness). They’re also starting to show their independence and self-reliance such as feeding himself/herself without much assistance from their parents. Physically, they can now easily walk, run, jump and climb. Cognitively, they can already recognize similarities and differences among objects (visual and pattern recognition is now more developed).

These are just general milestones and ideas. To easily and quickly know if there are any problems, it’s good to observe your child. If he/she refuses to move, play or interact and this has been happening for days or weeks, it could be a problem. If your child is not interested at all in most activities and tends to isolate himself/herself, it’s time to seek professional advice for immediate and proactive measures.

It’s good to connect with the educators at the early learning centre so you become more aware of what’s happening. It should be a collaborative effort so that you’re not missing anything (perhaps your child is active at the early learning centre but at home he/she is not showing any energy and interest). This way, you’ll gain peace of mind that your child is always on the right track and that he/she is always having fun and enough playtime.