Growth and Development, Ages 2 to 5 Years

Promoting Healthy Growth and Development

As a parent, you can enhance your preschool child's development in countless ways, the most important of which is showing love and affection. You guide your children through the challenges of this important time of life by talking and reading to them, providing opportunities for play, playing pretend with them, showing them how to get dressed or use the toilet, and setting boundaries and limits to their behavior.

You can also try specific techniques to help your child advance in all areas of growth and development.

Promote physical development by:

• Offering plenty of opportunities for exercise. Going to the playground, joining a gymnastics or dance class, or simply running races in your backyard allows your child to release excess energy and encourages new physical skills.
• Helping your preschooler develop healthy eating habits. Although you control what, when, and where your child eats, realize that he or she chooses whether to eat and how much. As long as you offer nourishing foods from the major food groups and focus on the big picture—how much is eaten throughout the entire day or over the course of a few days—your child should not have problems. Use the family meal as an opportunity to promote healthy eating habits, both by your example of good eating behavior and how you respond to your child's shifting food preferences.

Promote cognitive development by:

• Encouraging safe exploration. Exploration helps your child discover cause-and-effect relationships. Children who explore learn to master new skills and solve problems. Offer a variety of things to play with, read, create, and build. Resist limiting exploration because of safety fears by taking basic measures to minimize risks. For more information about preventing accidents and injuries, see the topic Health and Safety, Ages 2 to 5 Years.
• Encouraging a sense of security. Your child is more likely to feel safe and secure if you are dependable, consistent, respectful, and responsive. These qualities are especially important for parents of preschool children, because these children are gaining a basic sense of trust in themselves and in the significant people in their lives. This sense of trust lays the foundation for learning, social skills, adaptability, and emotional development. Secure children also keep and strengthen their attachment to their parents.

Promote emotional and social development by:

• Providing peer contact. Playing with other children even 1 day a week gives children opportunities to practice and develop important social, emotional, and language skills. Children learn to share, cooperate, and negotiate as they interact with their peers.
• Promoting self-control. Children need guidance, clear limits, and patient parents during this time of behavioral and emotional struggles. Help your child by modeling and teaching proper behavior. Also, encourage your child to think about the feelings of other people to develop empathy. Preschoolers crave acceptance and attention. Completely ignoring a misbehaving child is effective in curbing minor but annoying behavior problems, such as whining or complaining. Time-outs can also help, when they are used properly and sparingly.
• Helping your child build self-esteem. The foundation of self-esteem is established in childhood. Parents have the greatest influence on a child's belief about himself or herself. Letting your child know that he or she belongs, is doing well, and is contributing can help him or her develop healthy self-esteem.

Promote language development by:

• Reading to your child at every age. Reading exposes your child to the sounds and rhythm of language. It also helps stimulate the imagination and introduces children to things and places they may not have a chance to learn about otherwise, such as oceans or dinosaurs.
• Providing opportunities to talk with others. Children develop language skills by being around other people. Listening and communicating with other children and adults helps a child to understand and use language.

Promote sensory and motor development by:

• Providing a wide variety of experiences and play environments. Schedule time each day for either indoor or outdoor physical activity, such as dancing inside or going to a playground. These types of activities improve coordination and other large muscle skills. Fine motor skills develop through art projects (such as painting or using scissors), playing musical instruments, pouring, and using tongs or fingers to move objects. Stimulate your child's senses by introducing new sights, smells, sounds, textures, and tastes as often as you can.

Your relationship with your child will constantly change as your child gains new skills and develops independence. You can help your child through each stage of development by evaluating your relationship from time to time. In many ways, you have to "get to know" your child over and over again. Ask yourself:

• What do I like most about my child?
• What could be triggering bad behavior? Are any of these new triggers?
• What new skills has my child developed within the past 3 months? 2 months? 1 month?
• What tasks can I encourage my child to do for himself or herself? How can I encourage him or her?
• When am I happy about how I treat my child?
• What don't I like about some of our interactions? When do these episodes tend to occur?

As a parent or caregiver of children, it is also important for you to:

• Learn and use effective parenting and discipline techniques and avoid the use of corporal punishment. Parenting classes are offered in most communities. Ask your health professional or call a local hospital for more information.
• Learn healthy techniques to resolve conflicts and manage stress. For more information, see the topic Stress Management.
• Ask for help when you need it. Call a family member or friend to give you a break if you feel overwhelmed. Investigate community resources that are available to help you with child care or other necessary services. Call a health professional or local hospital for a place to start. Some communities have respite care facilities for children, which provide temporary child care during times when you need a break.

Go to previous section	Go to top of page	Go to next section
Author:	Debby Golonka, MPH	Last Updated: April 24, 2007
Medical Review:	Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics Louis Pellegrino, MD - Developmental Pediatrics
© 1995-2008 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.