by Stephanie Davis

Created on: December 26, 2010   Last Updated: December 31, 2010

Children evolve through various stages of development before they finally reach adulthood. These growth patterns are often natural and predictable with some individual variations with each child. Any person knows that no two children grow and develop  exactly the same way. It is not uncommon for children to be advanced in one area but lag behind in another. Milestones are categorized into five areas of development to include physical, cognitive, emotional, and motor/sensory areas of development. 

In the area of physical development girls average between 40-45 inches tall and weigh between 30 and 45 pound, depending on what percentile they fall into. Boys average between 40-46 inches in height and 35-50 pounds in weight .Examples of cognitive development for the average five year old include the following: Knowing address and phone number. Recognizing most letters of the alphabet and understanding basic concepts of time. They should also be able to know at least four colors and count ten or more objects.  In areas of social development it is not uncommon at this age for children to show independence and even be aware of the concept of sexuality. They often will agree to the rules. They should  know the difference between fantasy and reality while still liking to engage in pretend play. Boys and girls will also engage in play while embracing traditional gender roles. Males are most likely to embrace rough and physical play, while their female counterparts are more likely to engage in social play.

Language milestones are very important at this age as it can indicate if they are developing properly or not in the other areas of childhood development. Most children should be able to carry on simple meaningful conversations with another person.At this age they will often refer to people by their relationship to them instead of their name.  Children at this age will use the future tense and will have no difficulty understanding the relationship between objects. Another important part of language development is that five years olds love to tell and talk about stories. They should have little to no trouble of being understood by adults when they are engaged in conversations. The last stage is sensory and motor development which includes fine motor skills. Children at this age should be able to skip, hop and stand on one foot. Five year olds should be completely potty trained and able to use the toilet alone. However, bed wetting at this age is still common as the bladder does not always grow as fast as the rest of the body.Fine motor skills entail being able to eat with silverware,dressing themselves and being able to write simple letters. Simple drawing of geometric objects and shapes are not uncommon for children at this age.

Children should master most, if not all of these milestones at or about the age of five. If a child does not reach all of these milestones by this time there should be no cause for alarm yet. Children develop at different rates in different areas and some may not reach these until the age of six. If you suspect that something is wrong with your child than it would be advisable to have them tested for physical and mental disabilities. Parents often have too high expectations of children at young ages and disappointed when their child "fails" to meet them and this does a great disservice to all involved. It is best to have no expectations and just enjoy children at this age. Possessing  a general knowledge of what milestones are normal will  aid parents in helping their children reach their full potential.

Learn more about this author, Stephanie Davis.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.