by Natalie Knesek

Created on: May 19, 2009

If you blink, you will miss it! You watched your sweet baby move through the stages of infancy into a toddler. From crawling to walking and babbling to talking in complete sentences; the stages that occur in the first two years of life can be somewhat predictable, despite the uniqueness of each child. But then suddenly, you look at the toddler one day and realize that they are answering you in informed complete sentences. He or she is laughing and clapping in socially correct responsiveness. Yes, he or she is even possibly becoming a miniature version of you. When this magical transformation takes place, seize it as your opportunity to live life to its fullest.

Every moment is a learning moment for your preschooler. As we learn and grow there are four major areas that we develop: cognitively, socially, physically, and emotionally. Turn your every day learning into ways to help your preschooler develop in these five hours.

Utilize your five senses. Whether you are outside observing the blue sky and birds singing, or inside cutting up fresh fruit for a snack, talk about the things you see, smell, taste, touch, and hear. It is the little things in life that we tend to overlook in our busy times that are a great tool to teach colors, shapes, sounds, and counting.

Get on his/her level. Literally, get on his or her level. Take time to sit where they are sitting and look up to see what they are seeing. You may find you have a whole new perspective.

Give simple directions. Remember that this age group takes everything literally. They love to help, so let them. Give them clear, simple directions for everyday tasks to boost self-confidence and independence.

Use and teach discipline not punishment. Whether you choose time-out or remove a favorite toy there are three things that are the most important in helping your child learn from his or her negative behavior. 1) If you make a threat, follow through. Don't bother telling them that they will get time out if you are not going to put them there. 2)Be reasonable in your consequence. As a rule of thumb, only leave your child in time out for one minute per year of age, so for a preschooler, they should not be in time out more than 3-4 minutes. 3)Always, always, always, discuss with your child the consequence and what they should have done and should do to keep from doing it again.

Praise and reward positive behavior. This does not mean you have to buy them a new toy or

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