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Original poster

HV check list for 3 yr olds. can your 3 yr old do the following?

83 replies

deaconblue · 23/04/2009 21:30

dress self
use knife and fork
hop
recite full name and address
understand stranger danger?

ds can only get bottom half off and nothing at all on. He uses fork and spoon. no chance at hopping, can hardly stand on one leg. And it has never occurred to me to teach him his address or mention strangers, although I'm sure he could recite address if I did teach him.
The stranger danger one seems really odd to me. I thought it was accepted that children are much more likely to be harmed by someone known to them than by a stranger.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
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thisisyesterday · 23/04/2009 21:32

ha, my 4 yr old can't dress himself (we're working on it though)

can just about use a knife and fork

he can hop

he knows stranger danger, but only recently.

CMOTdibbler · 23/04/2009 21:34

Yes (although not necessarily the right way round for trousers or top), yes,yes, yes (and telephone number), no. Although we have talked about finding a policeman or shop lady if lost and telling them who mummy is.

EldonAve · 23/04/2009 21:34

my 4 year old can dress the bottom half only
just about use a knife, fine with fork
can hop but don't think he could at 3
no clue about stranger danger
can't do name & address

SlightlyMadStirrup · 23/04/2009 21:34

DD3 will be 3 tomorrow.

She can get undressed (all too often ). She can dress her bottom half but not top.
Can use a fork but not knife (although we have never given her one TBH)
Can recite name. Not address. DTDs only learnt their address once at school
Stranger Danger....you have got to be joking...soo many new faces to talk to....they are not strangers to her

SlightlyMadStirrup · 23/04/2009 21:35

DD3 will be 3 tomorrow.

She can get undressed (all too often ). She can dress her bottom half but not top.
Can use a fork but not knife (although we have never given her one TBH)
Can recite name. Not address. DTDs only learnt their address once at school
Stranger Danger....you have got to be joking...soo many new faces to talk to....they are not strangers to her

Claire2009 · 23/04/2009 21:35

dress self - Yes everything
use knife and fork - Yes
hop - Yes
recite full name and address - Full name but not address
understand stranger danger? - No

SlightlyMadStirrup · 23/04/2009 21:36

Oh and can't hop (as her dance teacher found out hilariously recently).

McDreamy · 23/04/2009 21:38

dress himself - somethings, often gets it wrong but we're practising

knife and fork - yes but would rather use his fingers

full name and address - er no!

hop - yes

understand stranger danger - no

Are we in trouble?

feedthegoat · 23/04/2009 21:40

Ds is 3.6.
Can manage pants and trousers up and down but will want me to do it if he sees me. Can't do tops.
He can use knife and fork.
He can hop.
He can recite full name. I have no doubt he could do address if I had bothered to teach him.
I haven't even got into stranger danger with him yet.

hoxtonchick · 23/04/2009 21:41

dd can do all those things. but she's nearly 4. and is a 2nd child & has therefore had her solicitous big brother teaching her things.

Original poster
deaconblue · 23/04/2009 21:43

good, sounds like he's not a freak then. I thogught he was quite advanced (PFB) but got list through the post today and realised there were loads of things that hadn't even occurred to me.

OP posts:
alarkaspree · 23/04/2009 21:43

Ds is 3.1. He can undress completely, and dress bottom half only.
Can use knife and fork
Can hop on right foot but not left
Can say his first name, but most people can't tell what he's saying. No clue about address.
Doesn't know anything about stranger danger. This doesn't make any sense to me - he's 3. He's not walking to school by himself. If he ever gets lost he'll have to ask a stranger to help, won't he?

ohdearwhatamess · 23/04/2009 21:46

Ds1 3 next week

Can undress himself. Can dress himself but can't/won't do trouser buttons.
Can use knife and fork, but can go for days without doing so (barely eats food)
Can hop.
Can do first name and surname but refuses to accept that he has a middle name (corrects me if I say it - 'no mummy my name is...'). Can't do full address (have never told him tbh)- could do village name and say what nearest 2 towns are.
Wary of strangers. Not sure he understands stranger danger as such though. Again, haven't tried with him.

hester · 23/04/2009 21:47

dd is 3.6. She can only partly dress herself. She occasionally deigns to use a spoon or fork, but no knife yet. I have no idea whether she can hop. She can recite her name and part of her address - I haven't taught her the full address (it's long!).

Stranger danger: she was taught something about this at pre-school, which I only discovered when she did a runner in the park and was brought back 20 minutes later by another mum (no, I haven't recovered yet). When we'd both stopped crying, I told her that if ever she lost me, she was to stop and wait for me to find her and not to cross any roads (which is what she had done). She piped up: "And I'm not to talk to any nasty strange lady". I was rather thrown because I think she is not yet old enough to understand the rather nuanced messages about who to trust and when, and at this stage I reckon she is far greater danger not trusting strangers than she is trusting them, IYSWIM.

So, according to this list, I'm a really crap mum. But dd can sing, dance, tell you all about volcanoes, plant sunflower seeds, name a dozen dinosaurs, and unwrap a chocolate coin in two seconds flat. All the important stuff.

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 23/04/2009 21:49

DS2 is 2.7 months so not yet there but

dress self - bottom half yes not top but can undress with ease
use knife and fork - Yes
hop - No
recite full name - Yes and address - Haven't taught him
understand stranger danger? - no

JackBauer · 23/04/2009 21:49

DD1 is 3.2.
Can dress and undress bottom half and sort of put her top on but not take it off
She can use a knife and fork
She can't hop, only learnt to jump a few mnths ago
She can recite her full name (including mispronounced middle names) and knows the number of the house but not the rest
Not starfted with stranger danger as she is crippingly shy so not an issue

sheena1 · 23/04/2009 21:52

dd 3yrs 1 month

dress self YES
use knife and fork YES
hop YES
recite full name and address SHE KNOWS HER STREET AND TOWN
understand stranger danger? NOT REALLY

morningpaper · 23/04/2009 21:54

UNDERSTAND STRANGER DANGER WTF???????????

I think the bigger worry is those parents who are obviously letting their unsupervised 3 year olds go into town for the day with their mates

sheena1 · 23/04/2009 21:55

dd 3yrs 1 month

dress self YES
use knife and fork YES
hop YES
recite full name and address NAME YES SHE KNOWS HER STREET AND TOWN
understand stranger danger? NOT REALLY BUT SHE IS REALLY SHY

pooka · 23/04/2009 21:55

DS 3.5

Cannot dress himself.
Can use fork, but is appalling eater anyway. So most food is finger food, because that is all he'll eat.
Can hop (hooray, a tick)
Knows his full name but not his address
NOt mad keen on strangers, but doesn't know about stranger danger.

pagwatch · 23/04/2009 21:56

MP - perhaps it is a trick question. maybe if your three year old understands stranger danger they send you on a parenting course to make you fricking stop it!

morningpaper · 23/04/2009 21:57

It doens't seem right to me

Did it also say:

  1. Understand the difference between skunk and cannabis and the health implications thereof?
Noonki · 23/04/2009 22:05

I asked the HV about some of these during the 3 year check and she said that they werent expecting them to be able to fulfill all of the criteria but that they can get a gauge if this is happening.

My DS couldn't hop to save his life and he is 3.5 now.

Maybe it is to start giving them the idea.

I don't think it is to young to start getting them used to the idea of what to do in certain situations. I wouldnt tell him that their are bad people out there because he is too young and would just get scared.

But I do tell my DS that if he gets lost he should go and find a lady to talk to or a shopkeeper or to shout loudly for me. (He loves running off and hiding)

CompareTheMeerkat · 23/04/2009 22:09

DD is 3.7.

Can partially get herself dressed, but prefers me to do it.

Can't use knife and fork

Can hop

Can recite her full name. She knows what number house we live in and the name of our village. Not sure if she knows the road or not.

Doesn't understand stranger danger, as far as I know. I think I will talk about it a bit.

Acinonyx · 23/04/2009 23:34

Dd 3.7 - I think she can mostly dress herself but it's hard to tell as she insists I do it. Just this morning we had a major stand off over asking her to pull her own knickers up

Fork but not knife.

Don't know if she can hop - I'll have to check tomorrow!

Full name and bits of address.

I haven't done stranger danger but I know her CM has - she's never away from one of us for a second though. I suppose I should broach this before school but I agree with a pp - it's inappropriate behaviour from anyone that's important to flag - stranger or not.