Growth and development is a critical time in the child’s life
Growth and development is a critical time in the child’s life. Depending on the stage the child has reached, growth occurs rapidly or slows down. At each stage, the child has a particular milestone they usually should reach. At thirty months, the child is growing, exploring and hitting their milestones.
Physical development of a child who is thirty months slows substantially. They do not grown as rapidly as infancy and adolescents. Their average weight gain is 1.8 to 2.7 kg per year. Their birth weight has quadrupled by this time. Their height slows down at this point, with an increase of 7.5 cm per year, mainly occurring in elongation of the legs (Hockenberry, 2013). By this age, the head circumference usually equals the head circumference. Physical development being slow at this time allows there to be more focus on motor skills and milestones.
Developmental milestones are times that the child should be able to usually target and achieve. Gross motor skills at this point should be that the child can jump using both feet, stand on one foot for a second and manage a few steps on tiptoe (Hockenberry, 2013). Fine motor development on the other hand deals with their manual dexterity. Their hands and fingers are able to pick up objects that they could not do during infancy. At this stage, they should be able to build an eight block tower and draw circles on paper. As they are drawing, they hold crayons with fingers rather than their fists (Hockenberry, 2013). When we talk about social skills at this stage, it is the most dramatic. It is dramatic in the sense that they are able to venture away from parents and know that their parents will be there when they return. They react to strangers in a way that does not represent a threat to their attachment to their parents. They understand that their parents can disappear but will always return. When it comes to verbal skills, children at thirty months understand more words than they can speak. At this time, they use multiword sentences by putting together two or three words. For example, “mama go bye-bye” or “all gone” is very common at this stage. You may not be able to hold a full blown conversation with them but they will definitely be able to understand and comprehend (Hockenberry, 2013).
Nutrition at this stage is very essential to the child’s well being. They require three meals and two snacks per day to meet the standards. They are also very picky when it comes to eating. The food must be in the same dish or cup every time they eat. An appropriate meal for a thirty month old child at lunch time is half a sandwich, three carrots, half a cup of berries and half cup of low fat milk (Brown, 2018).
Sleep is an essential part of a child’s day that has many benefits. At this time the child is able to rest and allows room for growth and healing. They usually average eleven to twelve hours of sleep a day and take one nap during the day (Hockenberry, 2013). They may have issues falling asleep but eventually do and are able to stay asleep.
Theoretical foundations have an impact on all stages of childhood. When it comes to psychosocial, Erikson states that they acquire a sense of autonomy while battling a sense of doubt and shame. They are focused on developing a greater sense of self control. When they are not able to or not allowed to do something on their own, they develop doubt or shame. Cognitive skills on the other hand was formulated by Piaget. He states that children at this stage are in the preoperational period (Hockenberry, 2013). At this point they think very concretely about the world around them and struggle to take the point of view of others.
Children engage in different types of play as they grow. A child who is thirty months tends to engage in parallel play (Hockenberry, 2013) They play alongside but not with other children in the same room. They will concentrate on the toy or object they are playing with but ignore the child playing next to them. An appropriate toy for this child could include ride-on-toys and balls. Around this time throwing and catching is a huge enjoyment, so balls would be ideal.
Discipline is very essential for the child at this time because temper tantrums and negativism is common. Whenever there is a tantrum, the parent should ignore the behavior but always ensure the child is safe (Hockenberry, 2013). Ignoring the behavior helps to not urge it on or get worse. The child eventually gets over the tantrum and back to normal.
Children can be a very interesting group of people due to all the growth and development that occurs. They hit different milestones, learn new things and just grow in general. They all grow and do certain things in their own little way. Some may not do it the way that it may suppose to go but eventually get it, making it even more interesting.
