The toddler stage refers to the period between the ages of 1 and 5. This phase in the life of the child is strongly formative for the rest of life. The toddler goes through a tremendous development in the mental, as well as in the emotional and physical area.
What is the toddler stage?
The toddler stage refers to the period between the ages of 1 and 5. During the first year of life, the child learns to crawl and eventually walk. The baby or infant now becomes a toddler. While the infant was still completely dependent on its caregivers due to its restricted movement, the toddler is now able to actively explore its world. During the years of the toddler phase, the child learns and improves skills such as walking, talking, sensory perception and interaction with himself and his environment. It socializes and actively builds relationships with others. During this time, the toddler must have the opportunity to explore his world and develop his enormous potential. It searches for its own limits and those of others, and needs firm caregivers to confidently help it learn these limits. In the course of this phase, the toddler also learns to become independent. Other children become increasingly important. The toddler phase comes to an end when the child enters preschool.
Function and task
The toddler stage serves child development on all levels. Through contact with self and others, the toddler learns about himself, his body, his feelings, and those of others. Through interaction with fixed attachment figures, it develops an image of itself. Based on this, social behavior develops and refines. At the beginning of the toddler phase is motor development. The step from crawling to walking upright is a significant development in the child’s life, on the basis of which a whole new repertoire of movement possibilities and movement patterns is built up. In the area of gross motor skills, the child develops more and more confidence and speed in walking. He learns to run, while at the same time training his coordination. Jumping, running backwards and hopping expand the repertoire. With the help of these skills, which are constantly practiced and improved throughout the toddler phase, the child moves through the world. In this way, it expands its scope of action and the opportunities to become active in the world itself. Later, the area of fine motor skills comes to the fore. At the beginning of the toddler phase, children use the pinch grip to grasp things and gradually replace it with fingertip grasping. These skills are fundamental to all cultural techniques, as they enable holding a pencil and using tools or instruments. Language also makes tremendous progress during the toddler stage. From the first words, which are usually uttered towards the end of the first year of life, development progresses to the formation of the first sentences. Towards the end of the toddler stage, there is normally an understandable pronunciation and an extensive vocabulary, which finds its application in the formation of complete sentences.
Illnesses and complaints
The toddler stage is a time of rapid development in all areas. The child is constantly going through new experiences both on a physical, emotional and mental level and undergoes many developmental leaps. These times demand a high level of adaptability, which is not always achieved at the first attempt. Therefore, under certain circumstances, adaptation difficulties and also developmental delays may occur. During developmental leaps, children are often quickly tired, whiny, very clingy and overstimulated. They then need sufficient rest, time to process and security through the attention of a familiar caregiver. In the time between the developmental leaps, the newly learned skills manifest themselves and more calm returns. The toddler needs certain conditions for his development. These include, among other things, few, fixed and familiar caregivers. This is especially important during the first three years. If there are repeated breaks in relationships or a constant change of attachment figures during this time, this can have a fatal effect on the child’s ability to bond and will have consequences for the rest of his or her life. This is also the case if the parents or other important persons themselves are not able to respond to the emotional needs of the child.This can lead to attachment and relationship problems later in life. For mental as well as emotional and physical development, the child needs certain vitamins and minerals. Good nutrition is therefore one of the main prerequisites for healthy development in the infant phase. Otherwise, malnutrition may lead to bone damage, nerve problems and delayed brain development. Brain development is often accompanied by emotional problems as well. And vice versa, repeated emotional stress, e.g. due to family problems or too much media consumption, can also influence and, in the worst case, impair the child’s emotional and mental development. In order to develop well on a motor level, the child must have the opportunity to move. Here, all of the child’s caregivers are called upon to regularly offer and enable the child to have as varied movement experiences as possible.
