Your 4-year-old

Independence comes in baby steps: zipping a jacket, learning the ropes at preschool, feeling empathy for a kid knocked down on the playground. Your child may be working at all of these — while still struggling with basics like how to sleep through the night.

Figuring out the fours 
Welcome to a year that's full of building on old skills while picking up brand-new ones at breakneck speed. Four is typically a lively, energetic, and sociable year. Confident about basics like speaking, running, drawing, and building things, your child is ready to use these skills to the fullest....read more

A better grasp of time ½Ã°£ °³³äÀ» ´õ Àß ÀÌÇØÇØ¿ä
Following routines does more than provide structure; it also helps a preschooler learn about time and sequence. By age 4, children are able to follow familiar routines on their own. In fact, they thrive on the security and order they provide. You might notice that after a bath, your child automatically reaches for his toothbrush, for example....read more

Hands-on fun 
Is your preschooler easily frustrated by tasks like snapping or buttoning? It makes sense developmentally: Your child's fingers are still better suited for throwing balls than tying shoelaces, because the fine motor and visual areas of her brain aren't fully developed yet. And it doesn't help that patience is also in such short supply for many preschoolers....read more

Reading: chapter 1 Àбâ ȯ°æ Á¶¼ºÇϱâ
Before children start reading, they master certain pre-reading skills. Be sure your child's world is nudging him in the right direction:

Feeling for others 
Your child may begin to show concern or try to comfort others who are sad or angry. Her ability to understand feelings through words or body language is advancing. She can empathize with people who are not right in front of her (an aunt you're talking about, a character in a story). And because her verbal skills have advanced, she can now offer empathy with words and express her own feelings....read more

1, 2, 3, and go!
"One, two, three," your child says as he counts his stuffed animals. And by now, he gets that the final number is the actual quantity of objects he has. What he probably doesn't understand is that even if you rearrange his animals, the number stays the same....read more

I can do it myself!
"I can do it myself!" your child hollers as you're getting her dressed in the morning (or when she's brushing her teeth, helping set the table, or doing just about anything, it sometimes seems).

As your child's motor skills develop, she's likely to push away your helping hands and want to do things solo....read more

The name game
Children's names are very special to them. In fact, your child's name may be the first word he learns to recognize and read. Around age 4, he'll probably start to show an interest in writing his name, too. (Kids with short names have an advantage here, but even those with longer names will probably try.)....read more

New love of rules
Four-year-olds love rules. Rules offer structure and security. When your child knows what's expected of her, it's easier to navigate daily life. That's why, at 4, your preschooler actually enjoys following the procedures created for her at home and at school....read more

Sorting it out
You can help boost basic thinking skills by encouraging your child to sort things around the house. Four-year-olds love to sort, and while they're having fun they learn more about colors, numbers, shapes, sizes, and opposites....read more

Kids that go bump in the night
Four-year-olds need about 11 1/2 to 12 hours of sleep a night. One of the biggest sleep problems among preschoolers is refusing to stay alone in their own bed at night.

If this sounds familiar, it helps to have an idea of what's causing the problem....read more

It can be hard for the parent of an increasingly independent kid to know when to step in and when to butt out. Here's sound advice on when to get proactive about speech problems, playdate conflicts, nutrition, and bossy behavior.

Talking the talk
Language skills are progressing to near-grade-school proficiency now. Among the highlights:

Engrossed in play
Some 4-year-olds spend noticeably more time with games and puzzles than they would have a year ago. They get up from their play less often and can become so engrossed that you wind up being the one interrupting....read more

Artist at work
With improved control over pencils and crayons, your child can now make pictures you can understand without prompting. Her artwork is becoming more recognizable and more detailed. Plus, she probably starts off knowing exactly what she wants to draw: "I'm going to make a picture of our house."....read more

Nipping a lisp in the bud
Pronunciation difficulties are still common at four. For example, is your child is still saying "torry" instead of "sorry"? Many children don't master the initial s and z sounds until age 7 or 8. Other sounds that can cause a problem: f, v, l, r, and sh. Usually the culprit is immature control of the muscles used to form sounds....read more

Playdate refereeing
Playdates should be progressing more smoothly than they did even six months ago. Four-year-olds play more cooperatively and are more self-sufficient. They initiate their own play now, share more readily, and are beginning to empathize with their friends' feelings. That means you spend less time negotiating conflicts or thinking up things for them to do....read more

Countdown to math
The average 4-year-old can count up to ten, although he may not get the numbers in the right order every time. One big hang-up in going higher? Those pesky numbers like 11 and 20. The irregularity of their names doesn't make much sense to a preschooler....read more

Get fit together
Four-year-olds are perpetual motion machines — running, jumping, hopping, wriggling, climbing. But this natural inclination to be active won't necessarily last forever. Take advantage of it while you've got it to develop healthy lifelong habits as a family. Join in the fun, stay active with your kids, and they're more likely to keep moving as they grow up....read more

Your 4-year-old's tall tales ¸ðÇè´ãÀ» Áö¾î³»¿ä
Pair your child's overactive imagination with his exploding language skills and you get some of the most fanciful tales you'll ever hear. He'll convincingly tell you all the details of his trip to the rain forest or how he flew to the desert to dig up dinosaurs before lunch this morning....read more

Taming a tiny tyrant °Å¸¸ÇÏ°Ô ±¼ ¶§
Your child absorbs and parrots back all kinds of grown-up behavior. Occasional bossiness is one of these. (Not that you necessarily deliver your commands as rudely as your child may play them back.) At four, kids start to experiment with power and how words can manipulate people....read more

Building healthy habits °Ç°­ÇÑ ½À°ü Àâ±â
Your preschooler is absorbing all kinds of messages from you about nutrition. Here are some ways to reinforce good habits:

Why all the bonks and bruises? ÀÛÀº »óó³ª ¸ÛÀÌ Àæ¾ÆÁ®¿ä
Some preschoolers seem to do everything in hyperdrive, exploring their world with daring, curiosity, and speed. Watch a 4-year-old on the playground and you'll see someone with ever more confidence in her body and movements. She jumps over things, climbs stairs more confidently, and can catch and throw more accurately....read more

The generous child °ü´ëÇÔÀ» °¡¸£Ä¡´Â ¹ý
Your child is gradually becoming less selfish, but it's still developmentally normal for him to think of himself first. How can you teach him generosity? Here are some ideas:

With a birthday party to plan and kindergarten coming your way (and possibly a slew of shots), it's a time of transition. How will your discipline tactics change now that your child is nearing grade school? How polite can you expect your child to be? And are those secrets she whispers to her friends harmless or hurtful?

How to discourage tattling
"Mary won't let me have a turn!" "John's climbing on top of the slide!" Children spot wrongdoing faster than Superman zeros in on a bad guy — and they're not shy about telling on the offenders.

Preschoolers may tattle out of a sense of righteousness. Or they may do it to get attention or make themselves look better in your eyes....read more

Getting sleep back on track
What can you do when your best-laid plans for consistent bedtimes and happy sleep routines during the week go right out the window on the weekend? It's a common problem for either a lax weekend schedule or a vacation to turn a once-champion sleeper into a cranky bedtime refusnik come Monday....read more

Prepping for shots
A common obsession of kids facing doctor visits is, "Am I going to get a shot?" Nurses today usually employ great methods to distract and ease pain (including numbing cream). How can you help prepare your child on the way to the clinic? Kids who know ahead of time that they're getting a shot tend to do better than ones who get no warning....read more

Excuse me, Mommy
Even quiet preschoolers are chatterboxes compared with older children. They love to sing, tell stories, and play word games. They love to ask questions. They're still refining the fine art of conversation, though. The talking part is not a problem; it's the listening part they need help with....read more

Better ways to say "sorry"
Learning the words "I'm sorry" comes faster than the genuine feeling behind it. You can't force your child to feel remorseful. Fours are learning to feel and show empathy, a key ingredient to a sincere apology. Egocentrism — thinking about herself foremost — still dominates your child's thinking, though....read more

Kindergarten this year or next?
Ready for kindergarten? Many schools have age cutoff dates, but other factors such as social maturity and size can also influence parents' decisions. "Academic redshirting" (holding a child out of school for a year even if he's old enough to start) has become more popular, especially for kids who would be among the youngest in their class....read more

Too fat? Too thin? Just right
Research shows that kindergartners already believe "thin is beautiful" and "fat is ugly." Television is a big influence. So it's not too early to start fostering a positive body image in your preschooler....read more

Psst...Guess what!
Your child may love to whisper (and holler); it's a way of exercising control over his voice. And fours love secrets — possessing information that others don't have. Since preschoolers enjoy gaining independence, secrets give them some control. They're deciding how much others need to know. (Be aware: It's a precursor to wanting more privacy.)....read more

It's my party
Involving your child in her birthday plans is a great way to make her feel responsible and respected. Some suggestions for making both of you happy:

What time is it?
You can help your child wrap his mind around that tricky concept known as duration — how long something lasts. Being careful with your own language is a starting place. Parents often ask kids to brush their teeth for "a minute," which is a relatively short time. Then we say, "Give me a minute," while we're on the phone....read more

Mama! I'm so mad!
One of the greatest gifts you can give your child is teaching her how to calm herself when emotions are boiling over. Self-calming is not an easy thing to learn — or to teach, since most of us are still perfecting the skill....read more

Big-Kid Discipline
At this age your child still lacks self-control. It will take more than one, two, sometimes ten times for a lesson to sink in. Repeating transgressions is also a way your child tests the limits. Are they firm or mushy? If Dad ignores me this time, maybe what I did isn't such a big deal after all....read more