Four’s no bore!

Your Child’s Journey to School Blog 4:

Four is an awesome age for any child! They are no longer tots but little people with their own personalities, amusing quirks, chit chat and imaginations that would give Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling a run for her money!

This blog is the fourth in our series about Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Nottinghamshire Children and Families Partnership’s “Guide to preparing your child for nursery and school.”

It explains the milestones that your four year old will have reached, and helps you to gain a better insight into the secret life of a four year old. Here’s an extract…

“By four years, your child will be: • Able to cut out simple shapes or form letters from their own name; • Using lots of words to communicate and be able to have a conversation with you but make simple mistakes with sounds e.g. ‘I goed for a walk;’ • Using the toilet on their own and being able to dress and help themselves; • Understanding their own and others’ feelings; • Confident and curious to try new things with or without you; • Playing with a circle of friends and beginning to take turns and share; • Enjoying family meal times; • Using a pencil to draw and write; • Able to say numbers in order to ten and beginning to represent numbers using fingers, marks on paper or pictures; • Able to settle happily without parent / carer.

Four year top tips… • Ensure your child has visited the dentist for a free fluoride varnish; • Visit an optician for a free eye test; • Ensure your child has had a pre-school booster; • Check your child is registered for a place at school; • Encourage your child to talk to you about their day and describe how they feel; • Make meal times a time to talk; • Give your child a reason to count, e.g. counting money and change when playing shops; • Play games which involve turn taking and sharing, and read stories that encourage talking about friends and feelings; • It is not unusual for your child to still be wetting the bed at this age. If you would like advice about this or any continence issues speak to your family health team.”

Next time, we’ll be sharing information from the Guide about five year olds. Doesn’t time fly when you have little ones?!