We’ve often heard it said that a child’s early years matter a lot. A lot of child experts agree that the developments that occur in a child during these years are plenty in number and in kind as well. At this point, the child is growing in many ways and in all sides of his personality. If you are a parent, at this point, you would have to catch up with the changes to keep track of the direction your child’s development is going.

The most dominant changes that occur to a child during the early years have to do with perception and language. Perception pertains to a child’s way of seeing and understanding things, while language is about their ability to express their feelings and thoughts.

Taking perception into the limelight, we can say that this is the most important change. A child who is exposed to the wrong environment can perceive negative things and understand that that’s the way things are supposed to be. As they see things, they also try to make sense out of them. There is no filtering of what they see and what they understand. As parents, no matter how much we want our kids to learn only the right things, a child’s curiosity at this stage is also heightened to extreme proportions. Everything they see tends to pose some questions for them, or simply settles into their realm of thought. Children, at this stage, are just like a very, very absorbent sponge. This stage may be one of the highs in a child’s life, because he just learns so much. However, it can be a low point for parents. As the child becomes overly curious, he tends to want to explore things. But, as young children, they still don’t have an understanding of limits and boundaries. This, then, requires parents to be always at their feet to make sure that their kid is not touching or going near harmful objects. This inability to recognize limits can also cause them to start throwing tantrums, which are definitely one of the biggest lows of the early years.

In language, on the other hand, the child begins to recognize his own emotions. With this come the ability to control these feelings, and the ability to express them as well. With regards to this, parents will be treated to a particular high point that they will find comforting. Children will begin to show affection and tend to recognize a parent or a trusted person from a stranger. Of course, the low point is that their ability to express feelings can also cause more sleepless nights. When the child is not feeling well, or is bothered about something, he will definitely express it. However, in some instances, children also gain control of themselves. They begin to build preferences or priorities. They can put down a toy when it’s time for milk, which makes them easier to keep track of. However, there is still a low point, of course. They can control themselves, yes, but you can’t control them.

The early years presents a balanced mix of highs and lows, so parents should not really swear off this stage. Instead, they should take advantage of the highs, and experience the lows while it lasts. After all, experiencing such lows are the only way they can truly say that they are parents.