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Milestones Philosophy

Why Developmental Milestones Matter

Milestones involve physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language/communication skills that children need to learn as they develop and grow. Often these skills build on each other. For instance, first, a baby pulls up, then they stand, followed by taking their first steps.

DOMAINS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Physical Development

The physical domain covers the development of physical changes, which includes growing in size and strength, as well as the development of both gross motor skills and skills. The physical domain also includes the development of the senses and using them.

Fine motor Development: When young, children are learning how to perform different activities with their fingers in coordination with their eyes such as grasping, releasing, reaching, pinching, and turning their wrists. Because these small muscle movements take time to develop, they may not come easily at first. At Milestones, we provide daily activities to master these skills and children learn at their own pace.

These fine motor skills help kids perform tasks for daily living, like buttoning buttons, picking up finger foods, using a fork, pouring milk, going to the restroom, and washing their hands. From an early age, it is important to give children opportunities to use their hands and fingers. As they get older, we encourage their SELF-HELP SKILLS and teach them how to button buttons, use scissors, hold a pencil, and do other tasks with their fingers and hands.

Gross Motor Development: In addition to these fine motor skills, kids also learn to use their larger muscles, like those in their arms, legs, back, and stomach. Walking, running, throwing, lifting, pulling, pushing, and kicking are all important skills that are related to body awareness, balance, and strength. These skills allow your child to control and move their body in different ways.

At Milestones, we help your child’s physical development by providing opportunities for age-appropriate activities. For instance, babies need regular tummy time to build their neck and upper body strength, while preschoolers and school-aged children need plenty of opportunities to run around and play. Even tweens and teens need regular opportunities for physical activity on a DAILY basis.

Cognitive Development

Cognitive milestones are centered on a child’s ability to think, learn, and solve problems. An infant learning how to respond to facial expressions and a preschooler learning the alphabet are both examples of cognitive milestones. Other examples include looking for dropped objects and problem-solving.
The cognitive domain includes intellectual development and creativity. As they develop cognitively, kids gain the ability to process thoughts, pay attention, develop memories, understand their surroundings, express creativity, as well as to make, implement, and accomplish plans.

The child psychologist Jean Piaget outlined four stages of cognitive development:
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to Age 2)
This stage involves learning about the environment through movements and sensations. Infants and toddlers use basic actions like sucking, grasping, looking, and listening to learn about the world around them.
Preoperational Stage (Ages 2 to 7)
During this stage, children learn to think symbolically as well as use words or pictures to represent things. Kids in this stage enjoy pretend play, but still struggle with logic and understanding another person’s perspective.
At Milestones Childcare and Early Learning, we help your child develop and hone their cognitive skills by giving them opportunities to play with blocks, puzzles, and board games. We also create an environment where your child feels comfortable asking questions about the world around them and has plenty of opportunities for structured and free play.
Our Educators, develop your child’s desire to learn by helping them explore topics they are passionate about. Encourage thinking and reasoning skills by asking them open-ended questions and teaching them to expand on their thought processes. As they get older, teach them how to be critical consumers of media and where to find answers to things they don’t know.

Social and Emotional Development

The social-emotional domain includes a child’s growing understanding and control of their emotions. They also begin to identify what others are feeling, develop the ability to cooperate, show empathy, and use moral reasoning.
Social and emotional milestones are centered on children gaining a better understanding of their own emotions and the emotions of others. These skills also involve learning how to interact and play with other people and developing empathy. Some examples include showing a preference for caregivers, expressing emotions via facial expressions, and self-soothing.

To help the children develop both socially and emotionally, we encourage and provide opportunities for them to interact with kids their age and help them form relationships with both children and adults through different activities. To encourage a sense of self, we ask and follow your child about their interests and passions and encourage them to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Teach them about recognizing and managing feelings. As they get older, talk to them about healthy friendships and how to handle peer pressure. All of these different social and emotional facets play into a child’s overall development.

This domain includes developing attachments to others and learning how to interact with them. For instance, children learn how to share, take turns, and accept differences in others. They also develop many different types of relationships, from parents and siblings to peers, teachers, coaches, and others in the community.
Children develop self-knowledge during the social-emotional stage. They learn how they identify with different groups and their innate temperament will emerge in their relationships. The Children, especially, demonstrate significant developments in the social-emotional domain as their peers become more central to their lives and they learn how to carry out long-term friendships. Typically, parents will notice major increases in social skills during this time.

Language/ Communication Development

These milestones involve both language and nonverbal communication. One-year-olds learning how to say their first words and five-year-olds learning some of the basic rules of grammar are examples of important communication milestones. Other communication milestones are making cooing sounds and looking toward the person who is talking to them. Language development is dependent on other developmental domains. The ability to communicate with others grows from infancy, but children develop these abilities at different rates. Aspects of language include:

  • Phonology: Creating the sounds of speech
  • Pragmatics: Communicating verbally and non-verbally in social situations
  • Semantics: Understanding the rules of what words mean
  • Syntax: Using grammar and putting sentences together

One of the most important things we do with children throughout their early life at Milestones is to read to them daily. We make reading and enjoying books a central part of your day. We believe that reading out loud to kids from infancy and beyond has a major impact on their emerging language and literacy skills.
Aside from reading books, At milestones, we look for opportunities to read other things, too, like the directions to a board game, letters from family members, holiday cards, online articles, flyers, and newsletters. Hearing new vocabulary words spoken expands a child’s vocabulary and helps them prepare to identify unfamiliar words when used in context.

At Milestones Early Learning and Childcare, we believe that, in addition to reading, singing to and with children is another excellent way to build a child’s language skills. Our educators, try holding regular conversations, answering questions, and asking for your child’s ideas or opinions. All of these activities are an important part of their language development.