Your child will go through several changes and hit several milestones as they continue to grow. These are divided into categories called “domains”. Below are some milestones that a child might hit at around three to four years old.
Physical Domain
At around three to four years old, your child may no longer be needing to take naps during the day. You’ll also see their motor skills become more refined as they do things like ride and steer a tricycle, or running, hopping, and jumping. They’ll also be able to do things like hold scissors and use a fork.
Cognitive Domain
In the cognitive domain, you’ll see many complex changes to your child including doing things like being able to tell the difference between appearance and reality, grasp conversation, and understand symbolic functions of drawings. They will also have both improved and sustained attention.
Emotional and Social Domain
In the Emotional and Social domain, there will also be changes like your child will now rely more on language when expressing empathy. They’ll be able to describe themselves in terms of emotions, and will experience emotional self regulation.
Putting this all together- while these are general expected milestones to hit, it is important for parents to realize that every child is different. Some children grow faster and learn more than others, and it is okay if your child doesn’t hit exactly every single one of these milestones at exactly three years old. However, it is important as a parent to do what you can to facilitate these milestones.
Scholarly Reference:
Berk, L.E. & Meyers, A. B. (2015) Infants and Children, Prenatal Through Middle Childhood. Boston, MA