Parenting Tools - Understanding Preschool Child Development

Understanding Preschool Child Development
by Ron Huxley

"Children are our most valuable natural resource."
-- Herbert Hoover. What is a preschooler?
Depending on how you look at him or her a
preschooler can be defined or understood in
many different ways. Here are some ways to help
you relate to and improve your relationship with
your preschool age child.

Physical Development: The preschool child is a
whirlwind of activity. They are active explorers of
the world around them. In addition, they are more
confident about using their bodies. They run
smoothly, at moderate speeds, jump, climb and
perform other "gross motor" activities fairly well.
"Fine motor" skills, i.e., using scissors, drawing,
painting, and pasting are coming along but have
not yet reached the level of skill of an older 5 to 7
year old child.

Cognitive Development: Preschoolers can be
described, in terms of their cognition, as "little
explorers." They are seeking to understand how
the world operates and functions. They role-play
mom and dad to determine gender differences
and they take things apart to see how things work.
Preschoolers can remember events from day to
day; they can take what they have learned from
yesterday and begin to see how it applies to today
and even anticipate tomorrow. They still cannot
separate fantasy from reality and still live in a fairy
tale, pre-operational world. Attention span is
approximately 8 to 15 minutes on a good day.

Social Development: Preschool age children
are beginning to learn how to interact with their
peers. At 3 and 4 years of age they engage in
parallel play. Parallel play consists of children, in a
group, playing with the same toys, but not with
each other. They play "side-by-side" versus
cooperatively together. At 5 and 6 years of age
children begin to play cooperatively, e.g., throwing
a ball to each other and rolling cars back and
forth. At this age gender identity is also forming
and children become curious about sexual
differences. As friendships develop they become
concerned with having "best" friends. Expressive
arts, that develop gross and fine motor skills, are
beneficial.

Emotional/Self Development: At this age,
preschoolers will be "like" all kinds of people from
mom and dad, to the garbage man, to the
policeman. The purpose behind this type of play is
to understand the role of adults in their life.
Preschoolers want to please adults. They need
frequent approval and reassurance from primary
caregivers. They like to be observed when playing
and want parent's full attention. They may become
fearful when separated from parents or caregivers
but are generally easily consoled and adjust to
new environments within a few minutes.

Language Development: Language
development is tied into cognitive development
but is such a major part of the preschool age
child, that it is addressed as a separate category.
Developmentally, three-year-old children can use
complete sentences and are constantly asking
questions. They can speak about 900 words and
can communicate their basic needs, such as "I'm
hungry" or "My foot hurts." Four-year-old children
can use complete and compound sentences.
They will speak approximately 1,500 words. They
like to sing, tell tall tales, brag, and will often
exaggerate and call other children names.
Five-year-old children speak over 2,000 words
and love to tell and listen to stories. They can
focus for longer periods of time and often ask
thoughtful questions. In addition, 3-5 year old
children can only understand simple, clear
commands and have difficulty following multi-step
directives, such as: "Clean your room."

Common Parenting Problems with Preschool
Age Children

1. Fears

2. Eating

3. Sleeping

4. Dishonesty

5. Tantrums

6. Everyday Care (dressing self, table manners,
etc.)