Child Development Stages: How to Understand These Stages

Each child grows and develops at their own pace and does things in their own way. But generally, they follow certain development milestones. As they advance from 3 years old onwards, they’re now starting to interact with more people. Through interaction, they learn new things about their environment and even themselves.¹

In learning about these milestones, you would gain a better understanding of your kid and the important child development stages. Here’s what you need to know when it comes to child development stages:

How do you identify milestones?

Developmental milestones are what your child is capable of, depending on their age.⁵

In learning about your child’s brain development, child's growth and how to identify milestones, there are four skill areas we have to consider. These are intellectual, motor, communication and emotional3. And based on their age, here are some examples of milestones to look for:

Intellectual

In this skill area, your child learns how to process problems and how he/she takes care of these problems.³ This is focused on their cognitive capabilities, or in simpler terms, how they think and learn.^2,4

For children from 3 years onwards, they can now play with toys that are a little more complicated. They can now work with buttons, and other moving parts.³ They can even put together 3 to 4 puzzle pieces. They’ll start showing interest in art, animals, and other interesting topics.² Their imagination is now more active and they can play make-believe.² During these years, in terms of child development stages, you can observe more changes in their intellect.⁴ 

Motor

Motor skills are concerned with your child’s movements. At this stage, you can observe how they walk, move, and even when they draw art.3 At this child development stage, your child can now do more movements other than walking or crawling. Some can climb the stairs with alternating feet and pedal a tricycle2, while others can even do somersaults.5 Some children may even learn how to swim, with instruction and supervision.5 As your child grows, they’re learning new movements and growing in terms of energy capabilities - all of which you can easily observe as a parent or guardian.

Communication

Children would continue to learn new words. By the age of 3, they can speak up to 200 words and in three-word sentences.⁵ Sometimes, they can be silly, loud and even use language that isn’t very appropriate.¹ As their intellect progresses, their communication also improves. This can be observed with how they talk well enough to be intelligible by the people around them. With age, their speech also improves, enabling them to speak in short, full sentences.³

Emotional

Your child’s emotional skills determine how he/she acts in his/her environment. From ages 3 years old onwards, he/she will start going to school and meet new people.¹ Your child will start to experience new things beyond what he/she is used to at home. When your child does, he/she will discover more things to experience and learn about. These experiences would teach your child other ways to express himself/herself and how to develop his/her own personalities.¹

As your child interacts with more people, he/she will try to imitate the people around him/her.² Sharing his/her things and taking turns in playing is something he/she can also do at this stage as the concept of “me” and “mine” is already a familiar concept.^2,5 During this stage, your child will also show more emotions².

Your child’s developmental milestones are important in knowing whether or not your child has a healthy growth. Even though children progress at their own pace, they still generally follow similar development milestones. Determining these milestones would help you support your child and give him/her what he/she needs to discover new skills and reach his/her full potential.¹

References

1. Ages & Stages Child Development (N.D). Retrieved on October 2, 2020 from https://www.ccrcca.org/parents/your-childs-growth-and-development
2. Important Milestones: Your Child By Three Years (2020). Retrieved on October 2, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-3yr.html
3. Achieving Milestones (N.D). Retrieved on October 2, 2020 from https://www.enfagrow.com.ph/articles/achieving-milestones
4. Ages & Stages (N.D). Retrieved on October 2, 2020 from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/Pages/default.aspx
5. Child development: Know what's ahead (2019). Retrieved on October 2, 2020 from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/child-development/art-20045155