Continuing with our child growth calendar we reach the age of four years. If at the age of three the children began to acquire new responsibilities and more autonomy, the four should serve to continue strengthening the acquired and continue learning to be more independent, more cooperative and to know more widely the world around them.
Until this age and by necessity, children are self-centered. They want everyone to turn around and in fact they need it to grow up feeling important and able to have their own place in the family, at home and in their environment in general.
However, at the age of three and four, the child gradually emerges from his spiral to meet other people, interact with them, share games and finally begin to understand that he is part of a society in which there are others. people with their desires and concerns that may sometimes conflict with their own desires and concerns.
Let's see, point by point, what we should know about four year old boys and girls.
Four-year feeding
As we explained last week when talking about the three years, the important thing is that they can choose from a range of foods as healthy and balanced as possible.
We as parents must offer them the same food that we cook for us because they can know the different presentations we eat, they can see the different foods available and they can gradually get used to them (and because we only cook once, and not two).
It may be that they eat delighted everything we offer (weird, weird), being most likely to just take what they like and that their range of foods is quite limited.
This is normal at these ages, they are showing their preferences and they find it difficult to accept new flavors and foods, however, if we keep putting them on the table, without giving them more importance than they have (without insisting that they eat the vegetable or fruit "Because they are healthy" or that they eat "a little more of this, so that you grow a lot"), it usually happens that a good day you find them eating what they had never tried before as if they had always eaten it.
You know, if you want them not to eat something, insist that they eat it. If instead you want them to eat something, don't give it too much importance and eat it as if you ate a piece of bread (without continually saying how good it is or how strong we are going to get).
About the amount they should eat, we have already talked about it on many other occasions. The only ones who know how much they should eat are they. A few days will destroy everything you put in and others (many) will hardly touch the plate.
The indicator that should put you on alert is if, eating little, they "turn off", they remain weak, tired, fatigued, ... which is in fact the least usual (since despite eating little they have an enviable energy) and in In any case, the cause of these symptoms is usually, rather than not eating, the problem that causes them not to eat, usually some disease.
The dream in four-year-olds
He dream of four year olds It is already quite mature and in a fairly considerable percentage of children the nights go by without waking up.
It is still normal, even so, that there are children who still wake up a few days (or all), to go to urinate, drink water or because they feel the need to be accompanied.
With respect to where should they sleep, the decision is in the hands of each family.
Some of the parents who collect decide to talk with the children so they can start sleeping in their rooms. Letting you choose some new sheets, and / or decorating part of the room so that it feels more yours is usually a resource that can work for the child to take the step of sleeping alone.
Other parent collectors prefer to leave the decision by the time the child prefers. Obviously, there is nothing to say about it, every family that does what they consider best with their nights.
Socialization and language
At four years, most children go to school, where it coincides with children of their age and in the playground with children of other ages.
The four-year-old is able to start sharing some toys as he gradually understands that the world does not revolve around his figure. This begins to realize that many games are more fun in groups than individually.
Sometimes, since every process takes time, you will not want to share your toys and prefer to play alone. It is lawful and we must respect it. Sharing and playing with others is very stimulating, but sometimes you feel the need to be calm and enjoy something of your own without distractions.
In this age they discover (perhaps before) the pleasure of playing someone. That is why they love costumes and that is why it is common to see girls with wings and fairy wreath on the street and it is also common for boys to want to have costumes at home to play firefighters, pirates, princesses, fairies, Vikings, sheriffs , bells, etc.
On whether they should be allowed to go out in disguise, without being a carnival, for each father and mother decides. That moment has not come to me, but I will never deny it, because it seems to me a wonderful start of fun, play and “I do-what-nobody-considers-normal” (and I love the things that come out of the routine, because they are what make one feel alive).
As soon as to language in four-year-olds, boys and girls are able to make understandable sentences and dialogue. They call the colors and numbers and begin to discriminate between morning and afternoon.
It really is a beautiful stage because they continue to maintain the innocence of childhood with the added ability to hold conversations and start explaining some stories.
Body development at four years of age
At four years old, his body has already acquired the ability to run and jump in harmony and with certainty. Falls decrease, although as capacities increase, they tend to take on new challenges and therefore new risks appear.
We must never trust each other and, in the park or wherever they want to undertake their new goals, we must be alert to avoid falls or damage that could be prevented.
To list their abilities a little, they are able to kick a ball, jump with their feet together, stand on one foot and jump backwards. They also go up and down the stairs without help using one foot for each step.
Refering to fine motor skills, they can fold a paper, cut with scissors, draw taking the pencil with the thumb, index and heart fingers (come on, correctly) and are able to make drawings "with face and eyes", which the older ones can more or less understand.
Older, but not so much
It is common for parents of children of this age to have the feeling that they are older. Their rational abilities, dialogue and control of their intense emotions make us, unconsciously, expect from them a more mature attitude than they really are capable of having.
Sometimes we will see in them little people of small stature and sometimes tantrums, cries and “headwaters” that we thought almost forgotten would appear.
This is because They are older, but not so much. There is still a long way to go in their lives and they still have time to totally leave egocentrism behind and to completely control their emotions.
They are still unable to verbally express what they feel and this makes them often want to express it with the body, hitting, pushing, raising their hands.
It is not that they try to harm us deliberately, it is that they do not know how to channel their rage in a rational way, they do not know how to tell us things as they feel them and the only way to do it is with non-verbal communication, with their body.
As parents we must accept its limitations and try to redirect these situations so that little by little they learn to express themselves with the word and not with their body.
Phrases such as "you are angry because you want this" or "you are upset because ..." they help them put words to their sensations ("it is true, I am angry and it is also for this reason").
I do not say with this that we should allow the aggressions, because it is not like that, hitting hurts, annoying and it is not an adequate way to solve the problems, but we must understand that if they do so it is because they probably do not have more resources. It is up to us to expand the range of possibilities when it comes to expressing yourself.
Playing alone
The four-year-old children, when acquiring a certain autonomy, are able to spend long periods playing alone, without the company of anyone in their room, although that does not mean that they would not have a better time with us.
Sometimes they will ask us to play with them and sometimes we should be the ones who offer ourselves for it. There is nothing better for a child than to share games and moments with those whom he appreciates.
If you leave with us, being with them will see that we like to spend time with them, that time with them does not become exclusively that which they claim, but that there are times to share even when they do not expect it.
This helps, neither more nor less, to feel loved and loved, Can there be anything better?
Photos | Flickr - woodleywonderworks, jnb photos, edenpictures In Babies and more | Baby's calendar
