Parents Need to Know Developmental Milestones in Children

Being a nurse is a huge responsibility, and that obligation is only magnified when, as a nurse, you are working with children. Children are very delicate and are not able to bounce back from serious issues like older patients are. As a nurse, you are crucial in ensuring that the pediatric patients you see are on track in their growth and development. A lot of parents aren’t really sure about where their children should be at and need anticipatory guidance and other teaching so that they are aware when their children may be in danger. Nurses are extremely important in assessing children’s developmental level because if they do not, that child may be hindered for life.

At Penn State’s Early Learning Center I had the ability to watch a group of two to three year olds for the day. In doing this I had a great opportunity to see their development in physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communicative areas. The child I chose to specifically watch was a twenty eight month old boy who seemed to be very on target, if not above, with his development in each of the categories compared to the average of other children around his age.

For children at this age of about two years, physically they should be able to do quite a bit of things. Some tasks that this child should be able to do that are included in his gross motor skills include kicking a ball, climbing on furniture, running, and climbing up and down stairs typically putting both feet on a step (CDC, 2014). This child was able to do all of these things very well, and he almost compared to what a three year old would be doing, including easily running, pedaling a tricycle, and climbing up and down steps with ease (CDC, 2014). For this child’s fine motor skills, he should be abl...

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...o have their child assessed at the appropriate times. It is very crucial, however, to catch developmental delays when the child is young. If a nurse suspects a delay in development, it is important that she reports this finding to a specialist so that they can perform a very detailed assessment of that child and hopefully give them a better chance at living a normal life and doing activities that other kids of their age are doing. With the right interventions, a nurse can give a child a better lifestyle than what they would have if they waited to intervene until a later age.

References

Hockenberry, M.J. & Wilson, D. (2013). Wong's Essentials of Pediatric Nursing. (9th ed.). St Louis, MO: Mosby-Elsevier.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Developmental Milestones. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-2yr.html.