Do you make decisions based on a number?

Question

Do you make decisions based on age? Or do you make decisions based on your child's life and needs? I see a lot of questions asking what to do for a specific age. Its very hard to answer these because each child develops differently. I have always made rules and priveledges based on each child within my home versus age. How do you do it?

Answer 1

When I do it, I will base most things on my children themselves and not so much their age.

Answer 2

I make decisions based on my child, not his age (I have two boys). That said, it is pretty interesting to read about child development stages, as it usually provides an interesting insight into the reasons why our children are acting in a certain way. A behavior that might seem inappropriate is sometimes explained by the development stage a child is in.

Check out this link to child development stages for instance, there are pages about babies, toddlers, preschoolers, you'll see what I'm talking about.

For me, knowing all this is kind of an extra parenting tool if that makes sense, but I'll never get hung up on deciding purely based on the age

Answer 3

I definitely think it depends on the child individually.  I hate seeing that people base things on age.  Like, a 2 year old only child is going to react to some things differently than a 2 year old with other brothers and sisters or with one or both parents available, etc.  Sure, you can look at a baseline for some things like potty training or whatever, but just because some body's kid starts at 2 doesn't mean yours will.  I've got a 3 year old that can talk just as clearly as his 6 year old brother.  I wouldn't think one is slow and one is fast.  Children grow depending on outside influences, not just by what size they are or age.

Answer 4

I make decisions on both age and needs.  

Answer 5

I make decisions based on age, developmental stage and if they are special needs. You are right every child develops differently. Rules and privileges can be most effective if you take age into consideration.