Now That My Child is 5, Do I Change My Parenting Methods?

Parents can breathe a little sigh of relief as their childneed a few reminders now and again.
grows into the five to six year old age group. All thoseChildren at this age should be allowed to participate in
behaviors and rules you have been teaching your childhousehold chores. A five year old can remember
since birth are engrained into their minds and the fiveseveral verbal instructions without the constant
year old child is finally able to make real behaviorrepetition they needed when they were younger. They
decisions.are also capable of remembering more of the
Obviously, your role as parenting does not stop, but ithousehold rules.
does evolve somewhat. Your five year old has aWith age, the child will learn to feel remorse when they
much larger vocabulary and will be able to expresshave done something they were not supposed to.
their feeling with words rather than actions. AnThey also learn to anticipate another person's feelings
occasional tantrum is not unheard of for this ageand recognize those feelings. They are learning
group, but it is certainly not as often.empathy and will be able to use their expanded
Now that the child can listen, speak and have learnedvocabulary to comfort others.
the ropes, what is the next step in parenting? TheFive year old children are still learning, and they will
same parenting techniques that are used with toddlersattempt to bend rules and test your limits but remaining
can be applied but with more ease. The child alreadycalm and consistent will keep them on the right path.
knows your rules and expectations and will usually just