The Age of Exploring,
Twelve to Eighteen Months

Twelve to Eighteen Months
Quite awhile still has to go by until your child reaches two years of age. This is the age of exploring, constant movement, and insatiable curiosity; the child wants to express himself, but his communication skills are still quite primitive which generates frustration and fits. This the age in which the child goes through physical changes as well as emotional and cognitive ones. Once the child discovers how to walk and move around, he will need to reaffirm his independence, which is why many times he attaches himself to his parents, and on other occasions he will try to distance himself by doing his own things. He is capable of crying without comfort when you are not home and go running off when you are near. His intelligence has also increased notably and even more so if the family environment is stimulating. Besides being curious, a child will also become very observant and can spend a good amount of time examining objects, toys and his own body.

The Age Of “No”
During the first year of a child’s life, children tend to focus on the negative and say no to everything, they become stubborn and insistent, but they also express their affection better with kisses and hugs. Defending their own point of view is a job that children take on with a lot of tenacity, because they are trying to impose a personal opinion. This will help the child to affirm his own identity as an autonomous separate individual.

When a child says no, he is proving that he is a different person from the rest, and that he has his own will, different from everyone else’s. He is trying to tell you, and tell himself, that he has his own way of seeing things. He is exercising his own mental autonomy, the way he used to exercise his autonomy to move and get around.

Despite this apparent autonomy, the child is very affectively dependent of his parents. Because of this he will try to achieve a balance between authority and freedom, to construct a base of trust that will allow him to grow adequately.

To avoid reinforcing negative responses do not make conclusive questions, but rather give him alternatives he can choose from.