A friend asked me today what are some expectations and what should the activities of a one year old child be since her son just turned one year old a month ago. I told her that her son is doing good and his development is very alright as I have been also observing him. The following are my reasons:
He is very interactive to people around him, he smiles to everyone who notices him, he looks eye to eye with another person, he already started walking by the time he turned one, he babbles words, he picks objects and toys during our nursery class and he cries when he is hungry, sleepy or some feelings of uneasiness that he wants to communicate.
I advised her that children need a lot of stimulation from his/her environment. Singing songs or playing children’s music is very helpful. Children love music. She can also have storytelling with him each night so that his son would be able to acquire language. Storytelling is also a great time for parent and child bonding. Children would think that learning comes best from parents.
I added that if she wants her son to love reading and learning, books should be within a child’s reach so that it would not mean to a child that books are for serious matters only. She may try to put the books near the toys or just part of the toys so that books would look like it is part of the fun and excitement toys give him.
Lastly, we agreed that children should not be forced to do anything that the child can not do at the moment. Every children develops in their own pace.
