When Your Child is 3
Several mothers were sharing a coffee break on a sunny morning. Like most mothers, they enjoyed chatting about their children.
One mother said, “My Jimmy is such a dear to have around. He dresses himself, puts his toys away, and never spills his food anymore. Why it’s just wonderful!”
The second mother said, “You are lucky! My Debbie still acts like a baby most of the time. She’s cranky and bossy, talks every single minute. Honestly, she just wears me out!”
And the third mother said, “I guess my Sandy is a little bit of both. You know, grown up one minute and babyish the next.”
The three mothers agreed that children can be very different, even at the same age. Their. children are each three years old.
No two children are alike. Growth is very uneven, but it follows an orderly pattern.
DEVELOPMENT is another word for GROWTH
Children grow (or “develop”) at different speeds.
There are four kinds of development:
Physical and Motor Growth — control of the body
Emotional Growth — the child’s “feelings” and personality
Intellectual Growth — thinking and learning
Social Growth — getting along with other people
Each stage of growth has certain common characteristics. The following list tells you the average growth and development you can expect for your three year old. Remember all children follow their own timetable. Your child probably won’t match each of the statement on the list. If he/she doesn’t, it is no reason to worry. The purpose of the list is to help you understand the growth of your child.
IN GENERAL, the three year old:
- Follows most routines
- Tries to please
- Says “yes” as easily as he once said “no”
- Listens when you speak to him, and follows suggestions
- Begins to make choices for himself
From the Cooperative Extension Service; New York State
Selected characteristics of 3 year-olds
1. Enjoy up and down, push and pull, back and forth movements - can run, jump, pull; construct with objects.
2. Will join in and sing a few notes and words of a song, and enjoy being sung or read to. Will talk to friendly people in 3-4
word sentences. Nods, agrees, leans forward in conversation, avoids “I.”
3. Will engage in imitation and parallel play in the presence of other children and adults.
4. Will model behavior seen on TV, or heard in conversation or radio or tap acts like Mom or Dad or “gun-guy” or bad-guy.
5. Will display temperamental or oppositional behavior when confronted or denied; tend to show aggression and irritability
when setting or situation is new or unfamiliar, yet enjoy brief excursions to test independence.
6. Need space in which to move, but structure and guidance to control themselves; self-control is an issue.
7. Have no temporal sense or mental ability to reverse mental ideas of things are rooted in the concrete use of objects and
things; they will examine only one attribute of an object at a time.
8. Like social contact and pretend imaginary play, directed at self, then others.
9. Enjoy memory games, recall of a story, following the leader, hide-and-seek.
10. Need reminders, prompts, “cues” to “trigger” good behavior and remind them of what comes next.
