Milestones: 34 to 36 months

Your almost 3-year-old is increasingly his own person, with his own developing interests and opinions. While he might share certain characteristics with family members, he is learning to experiment and express his own ideas. Through experience he is starting to establish a personality.

Physical development:

• Most children of this age are proficient in the large motor skills such as running, climbing and walking. If you feel that your child isn’t as physically competent as his peers, it may be that he needs more practise to develop these skills.

Social and emotional development:

• Your child should be reasonably happy to be separated from you for an extended period of time, although some children may be able to manage this progression with less anxiety than others.

Cognitive development:

• Your child should be able to communicate with you using short sentences rather than simple phrases, and he may be able to continue talking about a topic for a while. As his language skills improve, you will notice how good your child’s memory and observation skills are becoming. Children have very visual memories, so if your child has a broad vocabulary range you may be surprised by how much feedback he can give you about something that he has seen or heard.

Milestones: Four years


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