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parents referring to preschool age children (2 to 4 years old) as toddlers? A toddler is someone who toddles, meaning just learned to walk. I hear so many parents give excuses for their "toddlers" behavior. When do these people wake up and see that a 3 year old running wild and screeching at people cannot be excused as toddler behavior? I am so sick of the vast majority of parents I know (inside and outside of daycare). Makes me ill to think that my kids will have to go to school and grow up with these other kids.
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UGH I KNOW!!!
I hate that so much. I work with 1 year olds and they get called babies all the time. And then people refer to the 2 year olds as toddlers. I'm sorry, but when a child can pee and poop on the toilet, they are not toddlers!
The other day a mother was dropping off her daughter who is 3.5 years. The daughter SLAPPED HER MOTHER ACROSS THE FACE and mom just smiled and said "She's just exploring her emotions..." WHAT?????!!!!! -
Interesting concept.
I've always looked at it like this:
Infant: 12 months and younger
Toddler 18 months -age 3
Preschooler - Age 4-5
TODDLER:
Etymology: ME, toteren, to walk unsteadily,
A child between 12 and 36 months of age. During this period of development the child acquires a sense of autonomy and independence through the mastery of various specialized tasks such as control of body functions, refinement of motor and language skills, and acquisition of socially acceptable behavior, especially toleration of delayed gratification and acceptance of separation from the mother or parents. The period is characterized by exploration of the environment and rapid cognitive development as the child strives for self-assertion and personal interaction with others while struggling with parental discipline and sibling rivalry. Of primary importance for the nurse is an understanding of the dynamics of the growth and development of the toddler to help parents deal effectively with appropriate nutrition, toilet training, temper tantrums, prevention of accidental injury (primarily from falls, poisoning, and burns), and childhood fears, especially anxiety as a result of separation from the parents.Comment
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I think 2 is still a toddler. 3-4 is preschool age, but depending on the kid they may not be ready for preschool.Comment
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I don't consider a 2 year old a toddler, especially one that is 2.5 or older. Its not really about the labels though, its more about certain parents using that as an excuse to their child's behavior. They allow an almost 3 year old to do the same sort of things that a 14 month old child would do. Then they end up with this huuuggeee stretch of time where the child is still "needing" all this baby type catering when the expectations should be increased with age.Comment
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I follow my state licensing definitions:
Subd. 19.Family day care and group family day care child age classifications.(a) For the purposes of family day care and group family day care licensing under this chapter, the following terms have the meanings given them in this subdivision.
(b) "Newborn" means a child between birth and six weeks old.
(c) "Infant" means a child who is at least six weeks old but less than 12 months old.
(d) "Toddler" means a child who is at least 12 months old but less than 24 months old, except that for purposes of specialized infant and toddler family and group family day care, "toddler" means a child who is at least 12 months old but less than 30 months old.
(e) "Preschooler" means a child who is at least 24 months old up to the age of being eligible to enter kindergarten within the next four months.
(f) "School age" means a child who is at least of sufficient age to have attended the first day of kindergarten, or is eligible to enter kindergarten within the next four months, but is younger than 11 years of age.Comment
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Each day is a fresh start
Never look back on regrets
Live life to the fullest
We only get one shot at this!!
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I think of infants being birth to walking, toddlers being walking to about 2 or 2.5, and then preschooler until kindy aged. For me, a lot of the definition is based on ability...my DD (3.5) has been firmly a preschooler in my mind since shortly before three, I think, maybe a bit sooner--she was potty trained, very verbal, able to be understood, ask and answer questions, follow two-step directions, and more.
My dcb who just turned 3, I have a hard time thinking of him as a preschooler--he's just not verbal enough. You can't even understand 75% of what he says, maybe closer to 50%--possibly less. He can't even answer yes/no questions most of the time and has other speech issues. He is potty trained, but can't/won't tell when he has pooped so he can be wiped (and he does need help wiping...kid hasn't the weirdest, most annoying butt cheeks I've ever needed to wipe!).Hee hee! Look, I have a signature!Comment
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I've had calls for children over age 10 and older too...but I am licensed to care for children ages 6 weeks to 10 years so on the day they turn 11, I no longer have to count them in my capacity even if they are here and I can still get paid too.
We can also count the kids who are school age ready as school agers 4 months prior to start of school...for example I have a little girl here who will be 5 in August of this year which makes her legally allowed to attend Kindergarten and although her mom is not sending her, I can still count her as a school age kid as of now even though she is only 4 so that is really nice ...weird but nice.Comment
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A child is violent with her MOTHER and the mother says words and accompanies those words with a smile and POOF it's normal and even a bit gifted... extraordinary.. and special.
The really sad thing is she was allowed to do that. In those situations society needs to tell her NO. We won't have a violent kid here. We won't allow her to hit anyone on our property.. not even you.
Take the child home and this is warning one. We give three warnings and she's out. Get your kid under control. We don't want our staff and the other children to see this again. It's not good for US to see YOUR child being violent with YOU.
It's about what WE need first. You may be okay with it but we are not. If she needs to explore her emotions in this way you have to do it off of our property and not within view of our customers, staff, and kids.
We won't have it.Comment
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thank you nan!!!
a child is violent with her mother and the mother says words and accompanies those words with a smile and poof it's normal and even a bit gifted... Extraordinary.. And special.
The really sad thing is she was allowed to do that. In those situations society needs to tell her no. We won't have a violent kid here. We won't allow her to hit anyone on our property.. Not even you.
Take the child home and this is warning one. We give three warnings and she's out. Get your kid under control. We don't want our staff and the other children to see this again. It's not good for us to see your child being violent with you.
It's about what we need first. You may be okay with it but we are not. If she needs to explore her emotions in this way you have to do it off of our property and not within view of our customers, staff, and kids.
We won't have it.Comment
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i do consider 2 year olds to be toddlers, but i don't think the word "toddler" is any excuse for bad behavior even by your definition of toddler. i hate when people say, "oh, he's just a baby" or anything like it. yes, babies and toddlers are going to experiment and do things that they shouldn't, but to use it as an excuse for routinely bad behavior is just that - an excuse.
i watch dr. phil sometimes and i've heard him ask parents what a 2, 3, or 4 year old could possibly do to deserve being "hit." he considers a parent smacking a child's hands to be "hitting" and every time i've heard him say it, i wonder if he was ever around when his kids were toddlers. this could start a whole new debate, but i don't think there's anything outlandish about smacking your OWN child's hands when they repeatedly do something wrong/dangerous after being told NO. to each his own, but i think smacking my "toddler's" hand when trying to play with an electrical outlet would hurt a lot less than a surge of electricity running through their body. i wouldn't say, "oh, he's just a toddler! that's what toddlers do!"Comment
I just did this in another thread. You are right, a toddler toddles and I was referring to preschoolers; not as an excuse for poor behaviour, I just used the wrong term.
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