Families For Life | Parenting Moments - 3 to 4 Years

Emerging from the terrific twos is a period of great physical activity and growth. Your child is bursting with energy, spending a lot of time to perfect his physical agility. He can now run, climb, slides and even ride a tricycle!

As your child develops his sense of balance, coordination and dexterity, be the guiding hand that supports him. It is time to take a step back and see what your child can accomplish by himself.

In just three to four years, your child is now able to express himself in verbal and non-verbal ways. He is excited and curious about everything. He will be asking a hundred questions about anything under the sun, such as "Where do babies come from?", "Why don’t you want to keep a pet?", "Is mummy a girl?"

This is where your responsive nurturance comes in. Help him understand that you may not know everything but you can both find out the answers together. The Internet and the library are great resources to tap on.

As your child develops his sense of identity and self-confidence, it is important to help him identify and relate to his feelings. Differentiating between actions and emotions will help you manage and reinforce positive behaviours. Your child is starting to notice the difference between gender and race. In a multi-racial society like Singapore, it is good to introduce the different races, skin colours and the importance of mutual respect and racial tolerance as this can help your child cultivate a positive awareness of racial diversity.

As your child's language abilities improve, it is also a good time for him to learn to say "Please", "Thank you" and "Excuse me". Start cultivating good manners from young.


Explore more

• 2-3 years: toddler development
• 3-4 years: preschooler development
  
• Introduction to parenting moments
  
• Parenting moments - birth to 2 years
  
• Parenting moments - 5 to 6 years
  

Contributed by:
Early Childhood Development Agency