2.5 TO 3 YEARS OLD
At this age, there's a fundamental fracture. Before that, the stages were successively changed, some were characterized by great changes in the psyche, others - in physical development, sometimes there were recessions and upsurges, but everything went in its turn.
During this period, there is an event that changes not only the life of your child, but also your own. His first discovery was the mother, then he discovered that there is another person who plays an important role - the father. Now he has to discover the third person - himself. Of course, this will not happen in one day, the success is always achieved gradually. But it is between two and a half and three years old that the child realizes that he is as full of himself as anyone around him. Thus, we can say that at the age of 3 the child knows a lot: he or she is a boy or a girl; that boys are different from girls; that you are his or her parents and not someone else; that he or she has blonde hair and brown eyes (he or she recognizes himself or herself in the mirror and knows how to distinguish colors). At this age, he is aware of his physical abilities; he often says, "I am strong, I am big. He knows his name and repeats it, understands that he is different from his mother and father. He is characterized by two words that he uses most often: "I" and "no".
The "I" is his role, it indicates his personality: I am different from you who listen to me.
"No" symbolizes the opposition to someone else. Both of them finally define the place a child occupies in the adult world, a place that tends to increase until it squeezes you out.
Just about 3 years ago, he was a sucker who wasn't aware of his existence, didn't distinguish himself from you, didn't realize that the hand he was looking at belonged to him biting his own leg as if it were an extraneous object, and when someone was saying his name, he had no idea that it was about him. It took about 30 months for the child to realize his or her existence, to feel his or her own full body and to learn to own it, to discover that, thanks to his or her mind, he or she was capable of reasoning, remembering and wanting.
Such discoveries, consciousness is one of the longest and most interesting, but also the most difficult chapters of psychology. The ongoing processes are quite complex and subtle, and the successes achieved are sometimes inconspicuous. After all, at the beginning of the child is almost impossible to understand, because he does not speak a word. But until he learns to pronounce the words, his gesture, facial expressions, reaction, look from the very first days to determine the level of consciousness, help to clarify his feelings and feelings.
Two particularly useful observations help to determine whether a child is aware of his or her own body: 1) the child's behavior in front of the mirror; 2) the way he or she looks at (or grabbing) his or her arms or legs. The best way to find out if he or she understands that there are other people and distinguishes himself or herself from them is through language, particularly the use of pronouns. Let's follow together the changes that have taken place in this area from birth to 3 years of age.
