What’s going on right now
Kindergarten readiness is the big theme this year, whether your child is starting school or already in it. New friendships take on more importance, and so does learning to follow a classroom’s worth of rules instead of just your household’s. Big emotions haven’t disappeared, but you’ll likely see more moments where your child can pause, name a feeling and recover instead of melting down completely.
Empathy grows noticeably around this age too. Five year olds start to genuinely notice when a friend is sad and want to help, which is a nice milestone to watch develop.
Milestones you may see
- Hopping, skipping and standing on one foot for several seconds
- Drawing recognizable people and shapes
- Counting past ten and recognizing some letters and numbers
- Telling you their address or phone number, or getting close
- Playing games with rules and taking turns more consistently
Everyday care
School lunches and snacks are new territory this year, so it helps to involve your child in choosing what goes in the lunchbox. Five year olds need about 10 to 13 hours of sleep, and a consistent bedtime routine matters more than ever now that there’s a school schedule to keep up with. Keep screen time to high quality content with a family plan you can stick to together.
Keeping your child safe
Depending on your child’s height and weight, they may still need a harnessed seat or may have moved to a belt positioning booster. Either way, the rule of thumb from the AAP is to stay in whichever seat matches your child’s size for as long as it fits well, not to switch based on age alone. This is also a good year to cover school bus safety and refresh stranger safety basics now that your child has more independence at school.