Your Developing Child

 Raising kids is hard work. From the time they are born to the time they leave home, they are constantly changing and growing. Knowing what they need and when they need it is a unique challenge as a parent, especially while parenting multiple children. Luckily, there are some major developmental milestones that children reach at similar ages. 

You are probably aware of some of these milestones, things like smiling, walking, and puberty are some obvious ones. However, there are dozens of milestones, even things like learning to play cooperativity with others or arguing about dinner plans are developmental checkpoints along your child's growth to full adulthood.  

As a parent, it is our responsibility to be aware of, and anticipate these milestones in our child's life. As they  are constantly changing, so should our parenting evolve. We must parent appropriately to each stage in a child's life and realize that something that worked for a sibling, will probably not work for every child. 

There are many resources available to parents to help us navigate our child's development. One resource is from the CDC and it provides an overview of each stage in the child's development and tips for parenting that particular stage. You can find that here: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/index.html

Children have so much to learn and explore as they develop and it is so fun to see them make new connections or try their new skills. Even though change can be hard or overwhelming, for our child and even ourselves, it is a natural part of life and an indication of growth. 



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