Feeding
- Your child will have definite food likes and dislikes at this
age.
- He may no longer be picky about what he eats but he may not
take time to eat healthy meals.
- Plan healthy meals and snacks that your child will enjoy
enough to slow down and take time to eat.
- Include foods from the Four Food Groups
- Milk, yogurt, and cheese: 2-3 servings/day
- Fruits and vegetables: 2-5 servings/day
- Bread, cereal, rice, and pasta: 6-11 servings/day
- Meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, and nuts: 3 ounces/day
- Breakfast is necessary to help your child get ready for a
school day.
- Mealtime should be a happy family time when the entire family
is together.
- Try to plan a nightly dinner time.
- Turn off the TV
- Ask your child to sit down to eat rather than eat on the
go.
- Help your child to avoid empty calories and foods that do not help with
growth.
- Try to eat less of
- Cold cuts, fatty meats and hot dogs
- White bread and sweet rolls
- Candy, potato chips, and cake
- Whole and chocolate milk, soda pop
- Pack better brown bag or school lunches
- Use a variety of foods like
- Different types of bread and crackers
- Cheese or peanut butter fillings
- Whole grain or fruit muffins
- Fruit or vegetable juice
- Fresh fruit
- Raw vegetable sticks
- Low fat or plain yogurt
- Serve as an example for good eating habits, children watch
what their parents eat.
- Your child may enjoy helping to choose and prepare the family
meals with supervision.
Teeth
- Begins to lose primary (baby) teeth.
- Regular dental care is important for keeping healthy
teeth.
- Children this age mimic their parents, so allow your child to
observe you doing your daily personal hygiene care.
- To be sure teeth are cleaned well, brush your child's teeth at
night and have your child brush them in the morning.
- They may still require assistance in brushing their teeth -
especially the back molars.
- Use a small amount of tooth paste containing fluoride.
- Limit snacks such as soft drinks, chewing gum, cookies and candies.
- Find ways to reward your child other than giving food and sweets.
- Initiate regular visits to the dentist.
Physical Development
- Every child develops at her own rate and with her own style.
- This is not a strict timetable, but rather, a guideline of things to expect
in the next year.
What your child is learning to do:
- Walk on tiptoes
- Climb a ladder
- Ride a tricycle well
- Use a pencil well
- Cut and paste
- Build towers of 10 or more blocks
- Brush teeth
- Like jokes
- Dress self but may need help with buttons or laces
- Able to copy crosses, triangles, and circles
- Draw person with 3 or more body parts
- Play games
- Like to create things
- Help with easy household chores
Helping your child learn:
- Make crafts that can be painted, pasted and cut
- Allow your child to use imagination and make-believe
games
- Use games that involve physical exercise
- Allow to build castles or towns with blocks
- Allow to dress self with guidance
- Take field trips to learn about nature
- Provide clothes to play dress up
- Provide routines for bedtime
Language Development
What your child is learning to do:
- Begin to count
- Name primary colors: red, blue, yellow
- Able to define some simple words
- Know coins
- Know most alphabet letters
- Know address and phone number
- Tell simple stories
- Sing songs
- Understand the concepts of "same" and "different"
- Know the basic rules of grammar
- Craves facts
Helping your child learn:
- Read books
- Sing songs
- Practice the alphabet, colors, and naming coins
- Use counting games to learn numbers
- Review lessons learned at school
Social / Emotional Development
- May begin school: face new expectations, rules, and feedback
- Play games and activities with other children
- Curious about their own and other children's bodies
- Want to do things the same as other children or siblings
- Want privacy when dressing, bathing, or toileting
- Able to share when playing
- Identify with own gender
- Want to know where babies come from
- Begin to learn values of right and wrong, fair and unfair
- Begins to express more feelings in words
- Embarrasses easily, and cannot yet laugh at self
- Feelings about death appear
- Shows guilt over misbehavior
- Starts to judge himself based on his abilities
- More inventive in fantasy play
- Able to resolve conflicts
- Imagines that unfamiliar images may be "monsters"
- Often cannot tell the difference between reality and
fantasy
- Enjoys family activities
What You Can Do
- Allow to take part in school activities
- Provide play time with peers
- Furnish privacy when needed
- Provide action games with other children
- Give simple honest answers to questions about body parts using
correct names
- Give simple honest answers to questions of where babies come
from
- Show appreciation for your child and focus on her positive
behavior
- Spend time talking with your child about his day, school,
friends, thoughts, fears, and wishes
Discipline
- Be firm with limits that have been set
- Praise desired behavior, when he does things that help you or others
- Correct misbehavior in private
- Discipline using short time-outs (use one minute per age of child)
- Comfort and reassure child after disciplining
- Teach values of right and wrong
- Make sure rules are followed in games
School Readiness
- Starting kindergarten school is a big step in your child's life.
- Your health care provider can help you evaluate your child's skills to determine
if she is ready for school.
- Discuss concerns about your child's school readiness at your clinic visit.
School Readiness Skills:
- Gross Motor: Begin to skip; balance on one foot for 10
seconds
- Fine Motor: Cut a straight line; brush teeth
- Visual: Draw a triangle
- Speech: Know a penny, nickel, and dime; speak using adult
sentence structure; count 10 objects
- Social: Play well with other children; be away from home for
half a day; follow a 3-step command
School Preparation:
Prepare your child a few weeks before school starts to make the
change easier and smoother.
- Talk often about school and school activities with your child.
- Drive by the school several times so that your child will know the area.
- Plan a special shopping trip to buy school supplies and clothes.
- Begin a bedtime schedule.
- Contact your school's office to ask about planned events to prepare your
child, such as kindergarten roundup or ice cream socials.
First day of school:
- Make a special meal in honor of your child at the end of the first day.
- Encourage him to talk about the day at school.
Social Phobia or Fears
- School is a major event for the family and especially the 5-year old.
- With preparation, most children will adjust to the event and the change
in their life.
- Some children may show signs of school phobia which may
include:
- Extreme anxiousness
- Complaints of stomach aches, no appetite, vomiting
- Tiredness or depression
- Difficulty going to sleep
- The goal is to stop your child's fears by learning the cause.
- Talk to your child about her fears.
- Some fears are real--such as a scary dog on the way to school or another
child who ridicules or hits your child.
- Such problems need to be identified and dealt with before forcing your child
to attend school.
- If no problems are identified, you need to be firm about your child's attendance
at school.
- Delay will only make it harder.
Tips to help your child:
- Talk with your child about what to expect and answer all questions honestly.
- Show a positive, but realistic attitude about school (it is not all fun
and games).
- Both you and your child should get to know the teacher.
- Praise your child for the good things he has done.
- Treat school as part of the normal course of events.
- Make transportation plans clear to your child.
- Avoid comparing this child's school experience with how brothers and sisters
did when they began school.
- Spend time with your child at the end of the day.
- Get involved in school activities such as parent teacher
organizations, room parent, volunteer, etc.
Television
- TV can have a positive or negative effect on your child depending on how
you as a parent monitor your child's TV viewing time.
- Prolonged TV viewing has been linked to obesity, violence and aggressive
behavior.
- Uncensored TV viewing can expose your child to adult behaviors in ways that
portray these actions as normal and risk free.
- Sexual behavior, use of drugs or alcohol are often shown as popular or in
exaggerated terms.
- TV can also be an effective teacher and deal with difficult topics in a
sensitive way that opens a good discussion between you and your child.
- You as parents should control how TV is used within your home.
Effects of too much TV viewing:
- Fast food commercials give an unhealthy idea of how we should eat.
- Children who watch too much TV are less physically fit.
- Takes time away from other childhood pursuits such as play, reading, and
time with friends and parents.
- Can lead children to seek simple answers to complex problems.
What you can do:
- Know how many hours of TV your child watches a day.
- Limit TV viewing to 1 to 2 hours per day.
- Be firm about reducing the amount of TV viewing time.
- Lock out devices are available so that certain channels (such as adult programming
on cable TV) cannot be seen.
- Offer other activities such as sports, games, chores, reading, conversation,
or hobbies.
- Children copy their parents so review your own TV viewing habits.
- Have your child plan her TV viewing time so that she gets the most enjoyment
out of family programs.
- Watch TV together and discuss the programs.
- If you forbid certain programs or your child is already watching a program
that you object to- say so and explain why.
- When your child asks for products advertised on TV, explain how TV makes
viewers want things they do not need and some that may even be harmful (i.e.,
high caloric fatty foods).
- Call your local TV station to tell them when you are pleased or offended
by certain programs or commercials.
- Talk with your child about topics and help him relate to issues on TV that
interest you, such as hopelessness, drug use, or family problems.
- Point out that the TV world is not real.
- TV may show stereotypes of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native
Americans or women.
- Let your child know that everyone is equal even though TV may not always
show it.
To avoid commercials that encourage products you do not wish
your child to have:
- Explore public television
- Tape now for future viewing
- Videotape programs without commercials
- Establish a family video library
- Visit your local library
- Avoid program-length commercials (some cartoons are produced
only to promote certain products)
Safety
- Your 5-year-old is learning to do more things independently.
- He may be riding a 2-wheel bike and crossing the street by himself on the
way to school.
- He learns fast but he may not have the judgment to be safe.
- You can provide a more safe environment for him by following a few simple
steps.
Prevent accidents and falls:
- Have your child wear a helmet every time she rides her bike.
- Make sure your child's bike is not too big for her.
- When sitting on the seat with her hands on the handlebars, the ball of both
feet should reach the ground.
- Make sure she rides her bike on the sidewalk
- Use wrist, elbow and knee pads to cushion her falls when roller skating
with any kind of skate.
- Observe your child crossing the street safely at the crosswalks.
- Caution your child about unsafe hiding places such as
refrigerators, car trunks, clothes dryers, etc.
Car Safety:
- Have everyone in the car buckle their seat belt before you start the car.
- Do not leave your child alone in a car.
- Keep the doors of the car locked when it is moving.
- If your child is too large for a standard car seat, a
belt-positioning booster car seat should be used until your child
is large enough to use a seat belt. A belt-positioning booster
seat will help position the seat belts on your child's body and
will fit your child until she weights about 60-80 pounds. There
are different kinds of belt-positioning boosters and it is
important you get the type that will fit your child and work with
the seat belts in your car.
- Belt positioning booster seats raise a child up so that the
lap and shoulder belts fit properly. This helps protect the upper
body and head. These seats must be used with a lap/shoulder belt.
Some come with additional harnesses that can be used for children
at lower weights.
- When your child is ready to wear a seat belt, make sure it
fits properly. Remember, lap belts need to be worn low and sung on
the hips. Shoulder belts should be worn across the chest. Never
place a shoulder belt behind a child's back or under a child's
arm. This could result in injury to the child.
Prevent fire burns:
- Have a fire escape plan for the family and discuss this with your child.
- Have a place outside the house for everyone to meet.
- Teach your child how to respond if his clothes catch on fire: Stop, Drop,
Roll.
- Check your smoke alarms and replace the batteries each spring and fall when
you change the time on your clocks.
- Teach your child the danger of playing with fire and matches.
- Keep matches and lighters out of your child's reach.
- Keep a fire extinguisher in or near the kitchen.
Water safety:
- Supervise all swimming and water play.
- Enroll your child in swimming lessons.
Other safety concerns:
- Keep all guns unassembled in a locked cabinet with ammunition stored in
a separate secure place.
- Teach your child how to care for your pets and to not play with an animal
she does not know.
- Vaccinate your pet against rabies.
- Never leave your child alone in the house.
- Be sure all windows are screened.
- Teach her how to contact you at work.
- Teach him never to go anywhere with a stranger.
Calling for help:
- Teach your child how to call for emergency help--it may save a life.
- Practice on a toy telephone.
- Tell him not to call on the real telephone unless there is a real emergency.
- Tell him to stay calm.
- The telephone is his friend.
- Wait for a dial tone.
- Dial 911 (or appropriate emergency phone number).
- Tell the dispatcher: his name and address; what the emergency is.
- Tell him to speak up and speak clearly.
- Don't hang up before the dispatcher does.
Next Visit
At 6 and 7 years of age a checkup is recommended.
Additional Health Resources
Credits:
American Academy of Pediatrics
Pediatric Behavioral Health Advisor
|
|
