Milestones are the results the child reached by a specific period. For instance, how the child speaks, acts, and plays can become significant prompts about the baby’s development. Milestones can be called a checklist that helps parents to accelerate their kid’s growth. It is interesting to look at how with the help of nurture and nature, the child can reach the milestones effectively during the first two years of a child’s life.
For instance, cognitive and social/emotional milestones are essential for the child’s emotional and intellectual development. Social and emotional milestones include smiling at people, playing, acquiring movements and emotions, and responding to reactions of familiar and stranger people. For example, at the age of six months, the baby should differentiate between familiar faces and strangers (‘What developmental milestones,’ 2021). During further development, children might choose their favorite toys and games. The interaction of nature and nurture is vital here; the child can select their favorite things independently with the help of inborn character traits. However, parents can teach the baby new engaging activities with nurturing.
The second milestone is called cognitive and includes learning and thinking activities and problem-solving. For example, the baby at nine months should play, move things from one place to another, and put things in their hands. Next, babies acquire what things are for, for instance, a spoon, fork, and brush. They can also draw the attention of others by gestures and voices by the age of one year (Flensborg-Madsen & Mortensen, 2018). At two years, the baby can find hidden things and name items in the book or room.
Nurture and nature go along; these aspects cannot be separated in the child’s upbringing. Nature matters because children can choose what they like or dislike without their parents’ help of their inborn character traits. Nurture is significant because the parent might guide the child and help to discover this world. Therefore, these two aspects are combined to reach the milestones effectively.
References
Flensborg-Madsen, T., & Mortensen, E. L. (2018). Developmental milestones during the first three years as precursors of adult intelligence. Developmental Psychology, 54(8), 1434–1444. Web.
What developmental milestones is your 6-month-old reaching? (2021). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web.