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Do you pay attention to milestones?

Categories: Fun & Activities, Development, Life & Style, Resources

Parents worry about their children. New parents, especially, often wonder and wish for a set of rules to follow or a guide to carry them through the exciting and sometimes terrifying adventure that is child-rearing. Hence, the birth of the milestone. At a certain age your child should be able to smile, sit up, crawl, walk, talk, and eventually talk back to you.

Many of us breathe a sigh of relief to have these guideposts to help us. We delight in being able to check items off the list--yes, little Bobby smiled at the "right" time; whew--Sally walked by her first birthday. Mainly, though, it's the stuff before the "whew" that gets us. Many of us spend a lot of time worrying about whether or not our children will meet those milestones; some of us worry more when our kids don't hit the mark. Milestones are also used as a way of detecting developmental disorders, especially when a child goes far beyond missing a mark.

And who sets that mark? Well, milestones are really just a set of commonly held notions. Thousands and thousands of children are surveyed and studied and the average age of what they do when becomes the milestone. Hence, it is possible for a milestone to change based on new data. New data takes a long time to produce and cement, of course--markers don't change based on the experience of one or ten or even hundreds of children. Rather, the ranges of times associated with the milestones increase or decrease over time.

To many of us, having a range is further reassurance that we should let our kids take their time, that eventually, at their own pace, our children will reach those milestones. But, come on, admit it--you still worry, right? Or do you? Some parents I suppose are born with the ability to just relax and let things come. Others of us? Well, we still worry. What about you--do you follow the milestone markers to the "T" or do you just not worry about it?

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