The two-year-old is quite independent, very inquisitive, active, often impulsive and incredibly funny little man, with his character, habits and even his own opinion.
At this age, children know quite a lot, they know how and understand. But parents should be aware that the development of their two-year-old baby directly depends on them, on their attention, patience, and work with their own child. It is equally important to know what the child should be able to do at the age of two, and what skills he should have.
- Physical development
- Mental development
- Neuropsychiatric development
- Self-service skills
Physical development
On average, the weight of two-year-old boys varies from 11 kg to 14 kg 500 g, and the weight of two-year-old girls is from 10 kg 800 g to 14 kg. Growth at this age can be in boys from 84 to 93 cm, and in girls from 84 to 90 cm.
Two-year-olds are very active and mobile, they adore various outdoor games, run and jump a lot.
Normally, a two-year-old child should be able to:
- confidently alternate step;
- marching;
- change the pace of walking;
- begin to master the bicycle;
- running around;
- walk backwards;
- climb the tiptoes;
- without assistance, climb up the stairs and go down, stepping on each step alternately and sticking to the railing;
- hit the ball with a foot;
- try to throw and catch the ball;
- jump on two legs;
- stand on one leg;
- without support step over a rope or stick, raised by 10-15 cm above the floor;
- jump over a low obstacle lying on the ground.
During this period, the motor skills of the child's arms and coordination of movements are improved. Thanks to the development of the hands and fingers during this period, the two-year-old kid easily collects the pyramids and plays with cubes and a designer with pleasure, folds matryoshkas, turns pages in the book and can even correctly hold a pencil in his little pen.
By the way, the development of the motor skills of the hands is directly related to the mental development of two-year-olds, so such activities contribute to its intellectual development, and especially to the development of speech.
to the table of contents ^Mental development
It should be said that the real intellectual breakthrough is awaiting for two years of the child, because by this age he is able to understand the meaning of not only the names of objects, but also abstract things. A two-year-old child can understand the meaning of such words as "later", "later", "earlier", "different", "more", "less".He is able to distinguish animals from toys, the living world from the lifeless. His memory and imagination are developing, speech is being perfected. So, to his second birthday, the child skillfully has a vocabulary consisting of 200-300 words, with which he is able to communicate his thoughts to adults.
In addition, by the age of two, the child should be able to:
- use short sentences and simple sentences of three words, using adjectives and pronouns in speech;
- use items for their intended purpose: draw with a pencil, dig sand with a scoop, eat a spoon with a spoon, etc.;
- read by heart the children's poems;
- to distinguish 3-5 contrasting colors;
- pick items by color and size;
- compare objects in the form;
- add a picture of 2 elements;
- build a tower or house of 4-6 cubes;
- cut the paper by holding the scissors in one hand;
- draw a vertical line.
Neuropsychic development
In the third year of life, in parallel with physical and mental development, the mental functions of the child are improved - perception, thinking, memory and attention. Increases the efficiency of his nervous system, increases the endurance of the baby, and the period of active wakefulness increases to 6-7 hours per day. In addition, by the age of two, the baby is set right or left handed.
This is the period of the formation of the personality of a little man, a model of his future behavior, and at this stage the role of parents is difficult to overestimate. It is from the behavior of parents, their employment with the child, that his mental development, his becoming as a person, depends. At this age, it's time for the child to explain the elementary rules of behavior, to talk about what is "good" and what is "bad", to encourage him for good behavior and punish him for the bad.
At the same time it is necessary to control one's own behavior, because a two-year-old kid completely copies the behavior pattern of othershis adults, up to the gait and features of speech, so that to teach the child to do the right thing and at the same time to do wrong things before his eyes is simply not permissible.
Normally, by the age of two, the child must:
- be aware of his own self and recognize himself in the mirror;
- recognize and name all of their relatives;
- to understand why they can praise him, and for what to scold;
- fulfill a request consisting of 2-3 actions( for example: "Go to the chair, sit on it, take up a cup");
- respond to music or rhythm, swaying or squatting to the beat;
- to understand the short story about the events familiar to him before without illustrations;
- play in story and role-playing games;
- reproduce in the game a number of the simplest logical actions;
- to show interest in drawing;
- is good at navigating in space.
Self-service skills
At the age of two, the child aspires to independence. Support it in this. Give your child maximum freedom and teach him basic skills of self-service. It is quite normal if at the age of two years the child is alone or with your minor help:
- is washing;
- washes and wipes hands;
- goes to the pot and always asks for a toilet;
- cleans teeth;
- combs your hair;
- dresses and undresses completely or partially;
- fastens buttons;
- shoes shoes without laces;
- drinks from a cup and a glass;
- gently eats, skillfully using a spoon and even a fork;
- opens and closes the door.
In principle, a two-year-old child is capable of more, provided that you will deal with it and give enough time and attention.