Okay, I admit to being a bit obsessed with checking on my kids' development stages. Are they meeting their milestones? Are they where they should be physically, mentally, emotionally, socially? It helps me, as a mother, feel like I must be doing something right when I find that my boys are in line with the average child. And, of course, I feel undeservedly proud when they surpass average (as if the fact that my 24-month old likes to try to count to 20 is somehow a reflection on me...LOL).
In any case, a parent can find a ton of web sites that deal with milestones or have discussions on child development. And most of those are completely unhelpful, in my opinion. Granted, if a parent is concerned about their child needing intervention for special needs, you can find information about what behaviors are concerning pretty easily. But I'm more interesting in something...concrete. Less "your kid should be able to count a handful of items somewhere between age 2 and 5" and more "at age 36 months, most children can count 5 objects."
So I highly recommend this web site:PBS Deveopment Tracker Index
This site lays out a whole slew of very specific development milestones and what the 'average' child can do, along with a range of less typical (but still perfectly acceptable) abilities. I like the fact that these averages were found through studies rather than guesswork by professionals. For me, a person who has rarely interacted with children before parenthood, I felt like I needed to find something like this to give me some frame of reference for my own children. I had no idea what was typical, and a very concrete set of parameters was simply reassuring.
In any case, a parent can find a ton of web sites that deal with milestones or have discussions on child development. And most of those are completely unhelpful, in my opinion. Granted, if a parent is concerned about their child needing intervention for special needs, you can find information about what behaviors are concerning pretty easily. But I'm more interesting in something...concrete. Less "your kid should be able to count a handful of items somewhere between age 2 and 5" and more "at age 36 months, most children can count 5 objects."
So I highly recommend this web site:PBS Deveopment Tracker Index
This site lays out a whole slew of very specific development milestones and what the 'average' child can do, along with a range of less typical (but still perfectly acceptable) abilities. I like the fact that these averages were found through studies rather than guesswork by professionals. For me, a person who has rarely interacted with children before parenthood, I felt like I needed to find something like this to give me some frame of reference for my own children. I had no idea what was typical, and a very concrete set of parameters was simply reassuring.