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Preparing for parenthood can be an exciting, but also a confusing time in a couple's life. Planning for pregnancy is challenging because most people are not sure what changes to expect from week to week and how they should be preparing.
Take a look at our detailed pregnancy and parenthood preparation guide
The nine months of pregnancy is an exciting and challenging time for expecting women and couples. Learn about our guide to definitions and explanation of terms, plus what to expect during the different stages of pregnancy in our Duration of pregnancy guide
The day of childbirth and labor is quite eventful and full of surprises no matter how ready people think they are. There are different stages of labor, types of labor, and possible complications. Learn more about childbirth preparation
Most parents know the basics of keeping children healthy like
- Eating healthy foods
- Making sure they get enough sleep
- Making sure they get a good amount of safe exercise
- Rashes or skin infections
- Frequent sore throats
- Breathing problems
- Significant weight gain or loss
- Problems sleeping
- Drastic change in behavior
- Fever higher than 102
Mental, Emotional and Social Development
Ages 2-3 Mental Development
- Attention span 3-4 minutes longer when he enjoys
- Short memory
- Actions and objects much easier to understand than words
- Confuse real & imaginary
- Believes all you say
- Able to choose between two possibilities Can follow two different directions
- Extremely curious
- Needs order in daily routines
- Doesn't understand teasing
- Meets frustration with crying, kicking, biting
- Meets correction with temper outbursts
- Imitates parents in worship
- Completely self-centered
- Willing to conform
- With guidance, recognizes others' rights and waits briefly for own turn
- Attitudes toward others, authority, parents, & God is formed in these years
- Wants to please
- Nervous system sensitive to over-stimulation by noise and confusion
- Attention span increases to 5-10 minutes
- Reasoning based on appearance
- Observation powers not accurate
- No understanding of cause and effect
- Unable to consider the motivation behind actions
- Fantasy is at its height
- Has a great imagination
- Develops understanding of right and wrong
- Sorts out real from imaginary
- Aware of what people think and say about them
- Fears people laughing at them
- Enjoys obedience and thrives on praise
- Imitates adults
- Learns leadership and tends to be bossy
- Can learn to share with others
- Understanding fairness
- Have attention span of 15-20 minutes
- Are concrete and literal minded
- Have little realization of chronological sequence
- Communicates exactly how they feel: sick, happy, or miserable
- Thrives on praise and acceptance
- Exercises their feelings rather than self-control
- Self-confidence in his ability to know what and how things are done
- Concern about group acceptance
- Assert themselves and want to be first, best, biggest and to win
- Begin to care about self
- Starts to demonstrate generosity and kindness
- Protective attitude toward younger children
- Attention span increases to 30-45 minutes
- Likes to be challenged
- Learns more abstract concepts
- Growing understanding of principles behind rules
- Self-righteousness and rigidity in application to rules
- Sensitive to own failures and shortcomings
- Able to see own actions and motives objectively
- Able to analyze failures and make plans to change
- Want to become affiliated with the beliefs and values of the important adults in their lives
- Begins to sacrifice self-interest for others
- Learns not to compare himself with others
San Francisco and Bay Area Organizations for Kids
San Francisco Has Many Great Organizations for Kids:
- Kids Sports
- Kids Entertainment