Parents Of Toddlers : What You Should Understand About Your Children

Being a parent for a toddler is quite a tricky job because when your children grow together with them their daily needs and activities also will grow and change. So, it will be very challenging for parents to handle a toddler. Sometimes, kids could also be active, naughty, crappy, and their energy state may vary based on their mood swings – in such a situation it will be extremely hard to predict a toddler. In this toddler stage, parents should monitor them and also should concentrate on their food, nutrition, sleep cycle, health care, growth, and development.

Can you able to relate me? In this, article, from my experience - am going to share a few basic things, parents of a toddler can consider…

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1. Nutrition and Food

Nutrition

Every person needs a nutrient like vitamins, minerals, proteins, calcium, carbohydrates, and many others for their growth and development. However, each child needs different sorts of nutrients at different stages for their growth and development.

In the stage of a toddler, where they struggle to eat on their own and like to taste different types of food. During the infant stage, their only food choice is either breast milk or formula milk and sometimes both but now it is time for them to taste different varieties of foods.

Why nutrition is important for Toddlers?

Nutrition is an important factor for children’s growth and development. To stay strong and healthy they need proper nutrients in every stage of life. Teach your children about healthy eating habits and therefore the value of food. So, that they try to avoid wasting foods and also they follow clean eating habit throughout their life.

Food

Now let us discuss food. Usually, parents have this question in their mind that is – What type of food we can offer to our children? Simple, just give the food whatever your children like but do not forget to think about their size, age, activity level, and any kind of allergy to any particular food.

Below are some nutrient-dense foods including:

• Fruits and Veggies

• Proteins like egg, meat, pluses

• Iron-rich foods, grains

• Starch foods like potato, sweet potato

Try to limit the below foods from your children eating routine

• Fried foods

• Give foods with less oil, salt, and sugar

Always make sure that your children are having well-balanced food. Yes. What is balanced food? Combination of the above-discussed food in the right quantity at right time. There is a wide variety of nutrients and food sources are available. So, parents always focus and choose the right food for their children.

2. Physical Activity

What is Physical activity and why it is important?

It is nothing but a sort of play that involves giving work to each and every part of the body. It includes day-to-day activities like helping mom in the kitchen, placing back their toys in the basket, etc.., small exercises like hands up and hands down, leg raise up and down, etc.., and sometimes sports like bat and ball, throw the ball, etc..,

Physical activity is important to keep their muscles are strong at the same time it is important for their growth and development. When they do physical activity with their parents and with their friends, it is an excellent way for them to build a bonding with parents and friends. They also find out how to behave with others socially.

Health Benefits of Physical Activity

• It strengthens children’s bones, muscles, and also improves the functions of the heart and lungs

• Children can stay and maintain a healthy weight

• It improves their balance, posture, and flexibility

3. Sleep and Sleep Cycle

Sleep and its importance

Sleep is an essential factor for every child’s physical and mental health. Children of any age should get proper sleep. Good sleep improves their ability in playtime, they concentrate well on activity, and also they feel energetic throughout the day.

Generally, for children- during sleep time their bodies produce growth hormones for development. It also plays a major role in the nurture of young minds, boosts their immunity level. Most importantly they need more good sleep for their growth and development.

How much sleep does a toddler need?

A toddler needs around 12-14 hours of sleep every 24 hours. These numbers are just averages; they may vary for each and every child. Usually, this much sleep is necessary for a child’s growth and development, parents can try to make this sleep cycle a routine like at night 10-12 hours and during day 1-2 hours as a little nap.

Why would not my toddler sleep?

This is a standard question for all parents- actually, toddlers try to keep themselves awake because they feel that, they do not want to sleep, do not want to miss any kind of activities or playtime, and they feel to spend time together with mom and dad. But parents you can try and practice by maintaining regular bedtime and nap time. By practicing the sleep cycle regularly you can able to solve the sleeping issues.

4. Health and Safety Concerns

Health Concern

In the toddler stage, parents always worry a lot about their children’s health. For parents, it is necessary to focus on their children’s general health. The right care of health and well-balanced food helps your children’s growth and development

To know and understand your children’s health, a regular health check-up is necessary to make sure that your child is on the right track of growth and development. Usually, health check-ups for toddlers occur with a pediatrician at the age of 12, 15, 18, and 24 months.

Generally, toddler health check-ups should consist of:

• Measurement of child’s height, weight, and head circumference

• Common physical exam

• Advice on what to expect in upcoming months

Suppose you have got any concerns about your child’s growth, development, sleep cycle issues, eating habit issues, and any kind of behavioral issues – you can clarify with the pediatrician.

Safety Concern

The most challenging part of the parenting job is, to keep our little one safe. Home safety is all about having a close watch on your children, creating a secure environment to do their daily activity, and also should teach your child about – What is safe and what is not?

It is quite tough for each parent to keep their toddler safe because they run, walk, climb, jump, and check out to do different things. It takes only a couple of seconds for children to place themselves in a dangerous situation. So, parents always have a close eye on their child to avoid any kind of dangerous situation.

5. Toddler Growth and Development

Each and every child is unique and that they grow and develop at his or her own timeline. At the age of 2 to 4, you can improve their growth and development by encouraging and practicing their age-related activities, helping your child in healthy eating habits, creating a secure environment to keep themselves engaged, encouraging and supporting their language skills by interacting more with them, and also teach them how to interact and respect others.

During this stage, they try to enhance and develop themselves in the following main areas:

a. Physical Development

Physical development is nothing but a toddler can able to control and use muscles of their body. When children actively play with others helps to develop their motor skills. The physical development of each child should be complemented with proper care and a portion of well-balanced food.

b. Cognitive Development

Cognitive development is like how your toddler used to think, the power to seek out different things, and explore new things. It also includes the development of new skills and their active thinking mind to solve any problems on their own. These skills help your children to understand the surroundings around them. To improve your children’s cognitive skills, parents try to engage them with active interaction on daily basis.

c. Emotional and Social Development

In this stage of development, children can experience and understand “who they are and what they are feeling” all those feelings may vary and change based on their mood swings. They also learn “how to behave and what to expect” while interacting with others. Children also learn how to make friends; they try to precise their feelings, and so on. This development improves a child’s self-confidence, learning, and understanding of the situation, and therefore the way to value others.

d. Language Development

Usually, children follow their parents. Likewise, in language development, they try to understand and speak just by listening to their parents. The best and easy way to develop your child’s language skills is just by keeping on interacting with them.

Final Thought

A new stage of development begins when your child takes his or her own first step. It is the time for children to walk, run, be active, free to roam and try to find out different things around them. In this development stage, parents find any delay or problem in their child’s development – it is necessary to consult with a pediatrician. A child’s growth and development are considered to be the important factor for their overall health. So, parents never hide or do not hesitate to consult a pediatrician.

Disclaimer: All the above-discussed topics are basic things that parents should know about their toddler. Most importantly whatever I shared in this article is completely based on my experience.

Hope. This article will be helpful for parents to understand their toddlers.

Thanks for Reading…!