What an exciting age for your child! At 18-24 months, he is becoming more independent. He is capable of and interested in doing more and more for himself, something you may have been waiting on for a while now! Most likely, he has become better at feeding himself, has started to wash his hands on his own (perhaps after a reminder!), and dress and undress with simple clothing.¹

Though he’s becoming more independent, his Self-Concept skills are still developing, and so your child will begin to ask for help as necessary, in both verbal and non-verbal ways.² For instance, he may come to you and point to a ball that rolled under a bed and say “ball” to let you know what he lost. He may bring a shoe to you and ask you to help him put it on. Or he may even let you know that he needs to use the potty and would like some help.

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So, while he wants to try new things and do more for himself, he may not always be successful. If you see him struggling with a difficult task, stay nearby and be a willing coach. However, try to only help him enough to reach the goal himself. This is called “scaffold” learning. Promoted by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, scaffold learning refers to young children’s ability to reach the next level of skills with the help of others (peers or adults), who give them targeted advice and information that help build on their current learning level and developmental ability. 

Don’t take over and finish your child’s task. Instead, try watching how he is trying to complete the task at hand, and then give him some information or just enough of an extra helping hand to allow him to figure it out on his own.^4,5 This support will not only help build your child’s Self-Concept with an increased sense of self-confidence and competency, but it will also facilitate the development of his persistence and resiliency abilities.^4,6

What does scaffolding look like? Let’s imagine that your child is having problems putting on his shoes. Instead of putting the shoes on for him, watch him for a moment and try to figure out where in the putting-shoe-on process he’s getting stuck. Is he unable to get his foot into the shoe? If so, consider pointing out the problem and helping him loosen the shoe’s laces so that the opening is wide open. Then say to him, “Now the shoe is wide open, can you use your hands to keep it open like this? Good, now try to put your foot into the shoe”

Or, is he having trouble keeping his balance when he puts on his shoe? If that’s the problem, suggest, “Why don’t you sit down on the floor while you put your shoe on?” Whatever the case may be, be sure to cheer on his successes and encourage him to try again if the first attempt doesn’t work out. Scaffold learning may take more patience and observation, but the payoff comes when your child is able to take care of his own needs and develops the confidence and ability to explore new ways of doing things by himself.

Play Tips:

Do you want to know how you can support your child’s development of Self-Concept skills at this age? It’s easy! Read on for some simple tips to incorporate into your daily play time together.

1. Give your child an opportunity to solve problems independently.⁴ Let him try to problem solve on his own first before giving him support. When you do offer assistance, only offer enough help that will allow him to accomplish the goal himself. This is known as “scaffold” learning. As your child learns how to problem solve, he will develop an “I Can” attitude with greater self-esteem to further build his independence and Self-Concept.⁷
2. Provide opportunities to play with or near other children. Group play is a great way for your toddler to learn by example. By playing with or near peers, your child will learn how to behave during group play as he watches them play, explore their environment, and solve problems.
3. Celebrate successful projects and positive behaviors. Talk to your child about his accomplishments throughout the day with words like, “You put your toys away like a big boy” or “Look how well you climbed the stairs!” Reliving successful moments is very motivating and satisfying to your toddler. As you praise and support him, your positive words and hugs will help him continue trying new things, completing challenging tasks, and doing things on his own.

(SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up for Playful Bee’s Bee Well developmental learning program to give your baby the best start in life. The first 10,000 children enroll for FREE! Sign up today.)

Developmental Milestones:

Has your baby achieved the following Self-Concept  developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all the skill(s) she has already mastered to date using Playful Bee’s developmental milestones tracker. It’s absolutely FREE and easy to use, just click HERE!

• Starts to demonstrate some independence.
• Washes and dries own hands with help.

Sources:

¹Alabama Department of Human Resources. Alabama Early Learning Guidelines. 

²Florida Partnership for School Readiness (2004). Florida Birth to Three Learning and Developmental Standards.

³Mooney, Carol Garhart (2000). Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget, and Vygotsky. St Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

⁴Zero to Three. Persistence. Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_key_social_persistent&AddInterest=1157.

⁵Maryland State Department of Education (2010). Healthy Beginnings: Supporting Development and Learning from Birth through Three Years of Age.

⁶Healthy Children (2013). “Building Resilience on Children.” American Academy of Pediatrics: Healthy Children. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/emotional-wellness/pages/Building-Resilience-in-Children.aspx.

⁷iMom (2011). Toddlers Attitude: Instilling a Can-Do Attitude in your Children. iMom.Retrieved February 22, 2014, from http://www.imom.com/parenting/toddlers/parenting/training/attitude-instilling-a-can-do-attitude-in-your-children/.

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Playful Bee

Education Team at Playful Bee

Playful Bee is an e-Preschool that delivers inquiry-based preschool learning from the classroom to your home. Our preschool curriculum was created by our talented team of rock star teachers. With years of hands-on preschool and Kindergarten teaching experience, they've developed a high-quality preschool experience that is convenient-to-use and easy-to-teach by you, grandparents, or your nanny at home.

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