When people think of milestones, it's typically things like sitting up, walking, or talking. A lot of big things happen in the first two years of a child's life, so it's no surprise. As children get older, milestones are often thought of as learning how to read, counting to 100, or learning the ABCs.
There are actually some huge milestones that take place around the age of 5, or in kindergarten that somewhat go uncelebrated. It's not anyone's fault, but certainly celebrating one's child is a big deal, and when they achieve these milestones, they deserve that celebration.
Kindergartners Can Think
At this age, children are sitting in a classroom and quietly listening. They think, and they pay attention for an extended period of time. This is huge, yet almost seems expected, so it's rarely something parents praise for.
Thinking involves so much of what people do on a daily basis that it's often forgotten that a 5-year-old doesn't understand certain things. For example, learning and actually knowing the time reference of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. When children are young, we might say, "Next week" when they ask about something. In reality, toddlers don't know how long a week is. A 5-year-old will sometimes be able to figure these things out.
Kindergartners Can Follow Directions
Another milestone that seems expected and can be overlooked, is the simple following of direction. First, next, and last type of directions. That is a high level of cognitive advancement, according to Motts Children Hospital. When you look at all the different ways people do this in their everyday lives and through daily interactions with others, you realize how this skill allows children to accomplish so much more.
Kindergartners Can Speak Properly
In kindergarten, your child starts using full sentences. They properly place and use words. Molly O'Shea, MD, official pediatrician of Goldfish Swim School. says, children at this age use pronouns, correctly, recognize colors, and understand and use direction words like over, under, and next to.
Parents will hear their children using full and complex sentences. They participate in more adult-like conversations. Kindergartners often understand jokes and riddles and can come up with story ideas and tell the story too.
Kindergartners Can Work Together
Working together and sharing ideas is a big milestone. So is realizing that sometimes you need other people to help get a job done. Kindergartners who learn this skill also learn the meaning of cooperation and social-emotional development. Professors David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson, co-directors of the University of Minnesota's Cooperative Learning Center, dig a little deeper into how this benefits a child:
- Raising self-awareness: recognizing feelings and identifying interests, strengths, and weaknesses.
- Beginning self-management skills: managing feelings and behavior to control impulses and persevere in achieving important personal and academic goals.
- Bringing about social awareness: understanding the needs and feelings of others, while appreciating similarities and differences among individuals and groups.
- Building relationship skills: maintaining positive relationships with others.
- Building responsible decision-making skills: making good choices and contributing to one's school, one's community, and the world.
Kindergartners Can Express Their Feelings
It's not that a kindergartner won't have a tantrum, or cry anymore; they just become better at regulating emotions and saying how they feel. This is a wonderful addition to their development, as teaching emotions can be a struggle for parents.
Children who are in tune with their feelings are less likely to be involved in defiant behavior, aggressive behavior, and tantrums to express themselves. Also, a child who can verbally express their anger is less likely to act out physically and hurt themselves or others.
The Journal of Genetic Psychology found that children's abilities to express emotions appropriately and advantageously, as well as to regulate emotions, when necessary, help to grease the cogs of a successful school experience and hence their school adjustment. This skill also facilitates children's attention to academic tasks, planning, and independence.
Kindergartners Can Make Friends
This may seem simple, but it is not an automatic thing. Children in kindergarten learn how to open up more. They see what other kids are doing, and they work on projects with them, and that may turn into a friendship. Playing at recess and eating lunch together soon follows. Of course, not all children make friends that easily, but you can bet that the building blocks are being put in place for the future.
Friendships and making friends are one of the biggest milestones that are just taken for granted. It is so important, though, that parents help foster these friendships. MentalHealth.net says, there is a big case to be made as to why too.
- Creating friendships: This helps to develop life skills that will increase the child's confidence and self-esteem.
- Conflict and adversity: Drama will arise between friends. Parents can take those opportunities to teach their children how to navigate through conflict.
- Expression: Children talk to their friends; they express feelings and tell secrets. It's opening the lines of communication on a deeper level.
- A sense of belonging: Children get to build their tribe of people. They understand community more and play without parents micromanaging them.
- Imagination: Children who play together often participate in imaginative play together. This is very important for child development.
Sources: Motts Children Hospital, Molly O'Shea, Cooperative Learning Center,