Why The Period of 12-18 Months of Age Is Crucial

When my son turned 18 months old, it was the time for his vaccination. In his earlier vaccination appointments, he was very calm and never showed any signs of being scared while waiting for his turn. But this time, as soon as we parked our car outside the hospital, his smile went off. He was anxious. He made it backbreaking for us to sit in the hospital’s waiting room and the moment we stepped into the doctor’s room, he cried out really loud. We were nonplussed to see him that way. Then, the doctor explained that children at this age, begin to retain memories of experiences. This made me think that the period of 1-1.5 years of age is influential in forming habits in the toddlers and hence, I call it habit-forming period.

I, therefore, set a goal of developing certain habits in my toddler and those were:

∙         Weaning bottle-feeding: My dear son quit breast-feeding when he turned 15 months, it was gradual and hassle-free since I planned weaning breast-feeding step-by-step by replacing one feed at a time with some other food. This gave me a sense that the earlier he would quit bottle-feeding just like breast-feeding, the easier it would be.

∙         Toilet Training: Many parents will not agree that this age is appropriate for toilet-training but trust me, my little one was toilet-trained even before his first birthday but unfortunately, in the winter, he developed a habit of wearing diapers regularly and so, potty-training, sort of dismissed from his mind. Consequently, it made toilet-training to be the toughest part of my motherhood and then he learnt it by the age of 2.5 years. Here are some of the best potty training accessories which allows your little one to become independent.

∙         Self-feeding: At the age of one, a child can eat almost everything that adults eat. You must introduce a high-chair and make him eat food on his own at this age, otherwise, you will keep chasing them for feeding in the coming years.

∙         Developing communication: The problem of speech-delay is being observed among many children these days. So, try to communicate with your young ones, naming everything and everyone around and telling them what it is used for or who they are, respectively.

∙         Independent sleeping: If your toddler is co-sleeping till the age of one year, and you want them to sleep independently, then now is the time to gradually make them learn to sleep independently by the age of 18 months.

∙         Developing a schedule: If you want to raise an organized child, don’t wait until they start going to school but from now onwards. They are not able to track time at this age but if you make them do their activities at scheduled time every day, they will slowly be able to understand and become habitual to their routine. This will give you convenience to schedule your work and chores too.

Before concluding, I would like to remind all the readers that all children develop differently. Your child may adopt a habit more easily than other children or may express reluctance to follow another habit; but never impose them forcefully. It is suggested to you to be calm and patient through this habit-forming process or else it may backfire. I hope this article assists you in your parenting. If you feel the same or have experienced/observed anything similar about this age period, do share it in the comments.

Manjot Kaur is a Vice-Principal of a leading school in Punjab, India. She has been teaching Science to secondary school students since years. Being a teacher as well as a mother alongwith the passion for writing directed her towards blogging. Her interests include studying psychology and doing art and craft projects.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mom Store.