A Child Development Checklist - For the Joy of It! To monitor your child's development over the period of their childhood, a child development checklist is a simple way to consider. A checklist will specify what an average child should have achieved or attained by a certain age. As you watch your child achieve or attain a level of competence, you're sure to feel the joy of it!
The problem with a child development checklist is that many parents regard these as 'rules' rather than guides. You might consider an item assigned to a specific age as something your child must have attained or achieved if your child is to be considered normal. It is true that such items are based on averages: an average child has attained this or that. If your child has not kept up with the average, you may fear that something is wrong with your child. While that is a possibility, it is by no means a necessity. Children grow at variable rates. A child slow to develop speech, for instance, might very well end up a language professor. As long as the child is exhibiting some progress, there is no cause for alarm. If your child has not achieved or attained a certain level on a checklist, you should do what may be done to encourage development, and if the level has not been achieved or attained by the middle of the next stage of development, a parent should then consult their pediatrician. When using a child development checklist, always keep in mind that children develop at variable rates.
The following child development checklist by Helene Goldnadel lists those items commonly found on such lists for the first year of a child's life and is meant to represent what is common among such lists. Others may be more specific, but these lists usually sub-divide stages into more discrete periods. Because the