The 14th month
Your child is showing more and more character and is taking an increasingly active part in your everyday life. Their curiosity is unbroken and they want to understand many things in detail, because children learn on their own initiative.
The 14th month in brief
- Children learn a lot by imitation. Your child will be delighted if you let them help with everyday tasks.
- It’s quite possible that your child has suddenly become more emotional: this may be the first signs of the autonomy phase.
- Your child now also feels empathy and wants to comfort you when you are sad or have hurt yourself.
- Did you know that your child has a lot more bones than you? This is because many individual bones are still growing together.
- It may now be time for their first shoes: they should be neither too big nor too small. It is best to seek advice from a medical professional.
Learning by imitation
Helping out is probably one of the best things your child can do during this time. As a parent, you are a great role model and children learn a lot – even unconsciously – by imitation. That’s why it’s worth letting your child help with all kinds of tasks: whether it’s stirring the sauce while cooking, wiping dust with a damp cloth while cleaning or giving the plants a little water. Of course, this is not much help at the beginning, quite the opposite: everything will probably take much longer and there will be one or two mishaps. But your child will be very happy and feel important, seen and needed. And soon they will actually be able to help you with small chores.
First harbingers of the defiant phase
You may also notice that your child is now having more emotional outbursts with very strong emotions. It may well be that these are already the first signs of the autonomy phase – also known as the defiant phase. This can be quite challenging and sometimes almost bring you to the brink of despair. Here again: get support! This could be someone else looking after your child and giving you a break, or a professional who can help you with specific tips.
At the same time as experiencing their own strong emotions, children also learn to empathise. They react to other children who are sad, but they also wants to comfort you if they realise that you are not feeling well or that you have hurt yourself. And it’s quite possible that they will comfort you just as much as you comfort your child. This is also the aforementioned learning by imitation.
Discovery moment of the month: “as flexible as rubber”
You may sometimes be amazed at how agile your child is: seemingly effortlessly, they get themselves into the most impossible positions – at least from an adult’s perspective. One reason for this mobility is that children have even more bones than we do. Babies are born with around 350 bones, but an adult only has just over 200. This is because many bones only fuse together later.
