Understanding the Stages of Child Development: Guide by Tony Manrique Guzmán

Let’s be honest, raising kids can be uber hard. Especially when they are tiny and can’t do much themselves, so you have to supervise them like a jailer keeping an on for naughty prisoners. Surveilling little kids, 1-5 years of age, can be overwhelming. One moment they are stuffing their faces with cake, the next they are running a marathon, the next they are jumping on the bed, and the next… well you get the idea.

Honestly though, parents can be clueless as well. It’s not an exaggeration when we say that parents sometimes freak out at the first sight of puke. Of course, they will puke. The child can barely eat on its own let alone chewing every single bite properly. Still, having to care for a frail life, can you really blame the parents for not knowing the stages of child development?

For these concerning (and often hilarious) reasons, Tony Manrique Guzmán has written a short guide for understanding the stages of child development between the ages of 1-5. The book is a simple read for parents of all backgrounds. Hopefully, by the end, you’ll be left with enough information to wade through parenting a bit more comfortably.

Stages of Child Development:

Something to note before starting the book is that every child is unique, and although the patterns are pretty much the same (they should be, that’s why this book exists), the specifics could vary from the norm. It’s not a sign of immediate concern, but rather a yellow light for parents to start paying close attention.

Why Choose This Book?

Dr. Tony has distilled his years of academic and professional experience as a pediatrician into this guide. He also wrote another book, Understanding Your Child 1 to 5: The first twelve months. With two of the best books on child development under his belt and years of experience dealing with children personally, speaks volumes of his credibility.

What to Expect from This Book

There are five main divisions of the book, each covering a part of the child development stages. Each stage starts off with some milestone markers for you to check your child’s progress, such as physical parameters, language, and motor skills. For example, by the end of 15 months, children should be able to utter 5-10 words. Knowing less than 5 words, especially inability to name dad and mom, is a cause of concern.

In addition, the guide provides easy to understand behavioral insights about your child at every stage of the development. You can compare your child’s behavior against common patterns, such as thumb sucking, temper tantrums, sexual exploration, and so on.

Behavioral insight is crucial info for it serves as a metric of personality development. In other words, you can gauge whether your child is developing any personality disorders, which may require stronger counter measures, or is simply sulking because you sent them into time out.

The child development stages in the book also provide a treasure trove of necessary nutritional and health info. With this info handy, you don’t have to worry about what is safe to feed and what and how much your child should be eating at each particular stage.

Let’s say your child is past the one-year mark, as per the book, you can feed them most things, though in smaller amounts and with intervals of 3-4 hours. As such, the book recognizes the need for a balanced diet for growing children, and serves as a mini diet plan as well.

Also, health info regarding necessary vaccines and common diseases children usually contract in these stages are also detailed. You can employ preventive measures or cut the disease’s life span short with helpful tested medical advice, straight from a pediatrician.

Play an Active Role in Your Child’s Development

There’s more to the book than just info dump about the child development stages. Dr. Guzmán realizes the role of an active parents in each of the child development stages. Understanding the Stages of Child Development suggests many ready-to-perform activities that you can engage in with your child. These include interactive educational games, cognitive development activities, and language learning games to name a few.

Additionally, each of the child development stages come with their own set of “Alerts”, as the book calls it, which is basically warning signs to look out for. This is a counter measure for any potential left-field events in the child development stages.

Also, as a separate section, the book provides advice for very specific events, such as divorce, adoption, or autism. You can also find a list of common childhood diseases and accident prevention strategies.

“FULL COLOR. Everything you need to know about your child, from 1 to 5 years,
from physical growth, cognitive and emotional development, common illnesses, feeding, particular situations, accident prevention, and vaccinations.”

Conclusion