Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

2.5 - 3 years old ... what happens when?

12 replies

SlightlyFoxed · 22/01/2010 22:50

ds is 2.9, bright, chatty, I have no worries. But I have realised recently that perhaps I need to move things along a little bit on the physical / self care front, eg he hadn't asked to move but I've only just moved him from cot to bed (which he loves btw!) But also don't want to expect too much from him. So any advice or experience on what your dcs did / have done would be great please.

potty training - was thinking I would wait til he's 3, just seems easier in the spring / summer than now. he could probably start now, he can use a potty and sometimes tells me when he needs a poo (but is obv too busy most of the time to care and being in nappies doesn't need to).

getting himself un/dressed, or making attempt to. he helps with tops but struggles to get trousers down and isn't really interested in this. should I let him do it for himself or actively demonstrate and encourage him to do more?

general behaviour - we have 3 "rules" - no hitting, no throwing (eg not throwing his cup across the table), we must be gentle. I don't expect 100% perfect behaviour, but it is about 20 times a day at the moment that I have to remind him of one or the other. I think this is probably normal, but wondering when it might finally sink in that these are things that he needs to do / not do?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
SlightlyFoxed · 22/01/2010 22:54

argh thought I was previewing but have posted.

final question was playing on own - he still needs me to be near him a lot, though in the last week he has played in his room for a few minutes while I had a sneaky few extra minutes in bed. when do dcs eg get themselves out of bed and just play in their room without feeling the need to shout "Muuummmy" every 10 seconds?!

oh and when can they go and make their own breakfast?

thanks for any thoughts on any of the above.

OP posts:
gaelicsheep · 22/01/2010 23:00

I wouldn't be too worried tbh. DS is 3.5 and still in a (sides off) cot (that's because he's in our room just now during renovations and there's no room for a bed!).

DS has also only just got the hang of using the potty reliably. We did try earlier, but he wasn't having a bar of it. It can be easier in the spring/summer, but tbh if he's ready then it should be OK whenever you do it. I'd give it a go and see what happens if I were you.

We're only just starting to get DS to do more with getting dressed/undressed, washed, etc. and it hasn't done him any harm so far! As for discipline, it's pretty pointless trying to enforce too much until he's ready to understand the concept. We started with the naughty step for DS when he was about 3. I think your DS sounds perfectly normal!

I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping them babies for a little while. They'll grow up so fast anyway and we really have no control over it, so why rush it?

feedthegoat · 22/01/2010 23:05

I started potty training at 2.11 and sadly not in summer which I agree would probably have been easier. Unfortunately he wasn't ready in the summer (I did try!) but would have been 3.6 by the following summer so too long to wait.

The whole general behaviour thing got so much better at a similar time. To be fair this was when he started playgroup too so this may have helped. I remember when my best friend and I couldn't even contemplate taking our eyes off our dc for a moment when there were together but from 3 onwards things improved dramatically.

The getting dressed thing is slightly more difficult as my ds is stubborn and won't try anything he thinks he won't be able to do. He can pull up and down his pants and trousers (reliably from about 3.4). He will now help put his arms in things, take off his shoes and coat but that is about it. He is 4.3 now so to be honest I could do with some tips myself with this! He is one of the last in his nursery class who won't put on his own coat despite being one of the oldest. I say won't rather than can't as he point blank refuses to try.

Nothing you have mentioned sounds unusual to me. I'm sure things will happen in their own sweet time!

SlightlyFoxed · 22/01/2010 23:08

thanks!

perhaps the dressing is a boy thing. all the girls I know are big on getting dressed, choosing clothes etc. the boys are generally good at getting naked but nothing else!

ds couldn't care less what he wears and would stay in pyjamas all day given the chance.

OP posts:
feedthegoat · 22/01/2010 23:11

Oh and in anwser to your other question, no idea . Ds comes looking for me as soon as he wakes up. He is now better at being left playing for 20 minutes or so but only if I am very clear that I will be leaving him to do 'jobs'. Otherwise he just follows me round or shouts 'Mummeee I need you!' or worse still 'Mommee' in the fakest american accent you've ever heard .

gaelicsheep · 22/01/2010 23:11

Nothing changes eh?!

gaelicsheep · 22/01/2010 23:13

Oh yes, ditto to FeedTheGoat over being left. I have to explain very clearly why I'm leaving him for a few minutes - then he's generally OK. I know he drives DH round the bend sometimes.

Boys2mam · 22/01/2010 23:13

Oh my, I read your post and it is reminiscent of how my DS1 is (6 in 3 wks) in some respects...

...potty training; if your DS seems naturally to be going in that direction you absolutely should be encouraging him to carry on doing so. Perhaps pull-up pants so he thinks he is in 'big boy' pants but they're a back up for accidents.

...dressing; my DS1 is at the point now where all I have to do is 'straighen him up' but its took some doing. He wasn't lazy, but took no pride in this part of his appearance-if his collar was tucked in, he wouldn't even notice. At 3, I would say you have absolutely nothing to worry about for now. He sounds like he is doing fab.

My DS1 didn't move out of my bed ( until he was almost 3 due to circumstances and he is now loving, independant, almost 6 year old.

My DM always said "lazy boys" are "later to progress" - considering she has 3, who have all turned out to be wonderful, productive,
considerate (mostly) members of society she seems to know what she's doing (now age 21, 26 and 29 y.o).

feedthegoat · 22/01/2010 23:15

My ds is very vocal about what he wears, he just needs pinning down to get it on! I've enough on actually getting him into clothes without getting his co-operation into the bargain as well. To be honest, over the christmas holidays he did stay in his pyjamas some days. He proudly told my mum 'Mummy doesn't dress me every day anymore!'.

SlightlyFoxed · 22/01/2010 23:16

lol at fake american accent feedthegoat!

ds asked to play in his room this morning, so I went and put lights on for him (too "spooky" otherwise) and went back to bed. got less than 3 minutes before the first Mummy and little person coming back in with toys for me to play with!

OP posts:
SlightlyFoxed · 22/01/2010 23:18

so pleased it's not just me on the struggle to get a child dressed ... ds just refuses to let me dress him at the moment, we spend about 3 hours between getting up and getting out of the house seemingly doing nothing at all.

OP posts:
JaynieB · 22/01/2010 23:23

My DD (3 next month) has just got the hang of getting clothes off (unless they've got buttons) and can pull trousers up. Unfortunately her love for undressing ended up with a wet bed a few days ago as the nappy had come off too...
Your little one sounds about bang on to me.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page