Every parent wants the best for their child: the best food, the best things, and the best education they can afford. Above all else, parents wish for their children to have the best health as they grow up, ensuring their kids eat a nutritious diet, get enough sleep, and have a good home environment.
However, it’s not enough for parents to provide their children’s basic needs. Parents must actively monitor their kids’ health and development to ensure the children are hitting their milestones and growing up normally. That said, here are several ways for parents to keep track of their children’s health and development.
Checklist of Milestones
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Development (CDC), children are expected to meet developmental milestones every time they reach a certain age. These milestones involve “playing, learning, speaking, behaving, and moving.” The CDC has created a checklist of milestones for children from ages two months to five years for parents to monitor their kids’ development.
While each child grows at their own pace, missing a developmental milestone may be an indicator of a problem. Diagnosing development problems early on means the child can get treatment or intervention so that they live a healthy, normal life while they’re growing up.
Recording Child’s Height and Weight
One way to make sure that children are growing normally is to record their height and weight regularly. Some children grow faster while others are late bloomers, but every child should reach milestones in height and weight at every age. Keeping track of your kid’s measurements is one way of knowing whether they’re getting the nutrition they need to reach these growth standards.
Healthy kids come in all shapes and sizes, so parents should not judge their kid’s growth by comparing them to other children. Girls and boys too “grow in different patterns and at different rates,” says KidsHealth.org. Parents should not worry as long as the doctor says the child has a healthy height and weight for their age.
Regular Doctor Visits
Routine checkups are important for keeping track of your child’s health, which is why you shouldn’t skip these. The doctor is the best person who can tell parents that the child is growing and developing well at their age. They know what to look for in a healthy child and can identify signs of developmental problems that parents may often overlook.
Moreover, visiting the doctor provides many opportunities for parents to learn more about how to keep their children happy and how to identify early signs of problems. For the doctor, it allows them to know the child’s health on a deeper level so they can make precise judgments about the kid’s health.
The biggest advantage of visiting the doctor is that children can undergo medical exams and health screening to monitor their health. Doctors have access to advanced medical equipment and devices that allow a closer look at a patient’s health condition.
A Parent’s Duty
Parents are responsible for raising their children to be happy and healthy. This duty includes ensuring their children get the health care they need to grow up as healthy adults. Regular visits to the doctor and personally monitoring your kid can help make sure that they’re meeting their milestones and reaching health standards for their age.
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