Your Child’s World at 4 Years
At the age of 4, your preschooler will start acting more like the big kids in terms of how confidently they move and how much they know. But, they’re still relatively a little one at heart, someone who is comforted by the security of routines and the people and things they love best. But remember, they still need to you to encourage them and fuel their progress with the right nutrition.
Following are some developmental highlights for your child, after they turn 4
Cognitive
When it comes to specific abilities, preschoolers can wary widely. Beginning to grasp abstract concepts is what they all have in common. This new understanding can help them with various things like counting, understanding time and identifying letters, colors and shapes. Most children of this age have a good sense of the functioning of everyday objects in their world, ranging from complicated machines like a dishwasher to abstract ideas like money. Your little one might want to shadow you as you go about your day
Motor
One reason for a 4-year-old to seem much more advanced than they were a year earlier, is the improvement in their control on hands and coordination. They can hold a pencil or crayon the same way as a grown up, a milestone that would allow them to copy letters and numbers, and also allow them to draw shapes. Your child’s fine motor skills now include using fork and spoon, being able to dress up on their own managing toilet cleanup. Their physical skills by now cover even skipping and tumbling.
Communication
A 4-year old’s speech sounds more polished. Although they still tend to make mistakes, their pronunciation and grammar are much better. Some letters like “f, l, s, r, v and z” are still a challenge for 4-year-old children. Their sentences now are long and complex, and they string them together to narrate interesting stories.
Social
During preschool years, friendship is really important. Your child might have one or two special (best) friends, and these relationships are most often formed at school, when the child is away from their parents. Kids at this age are very attentive on what other kids do, compare themselves with other children and want to get along with them. Four year olds even try and understand deeper parts of relationships by asking about subjects like birth, death, and sexuality. This is a sign of their brain maturation. Parents should be prepared to answer all these questions with truthful, but age appropriate information.
