What to Carry Into the New Year From Your Child’s Development So Far

As a new year begins, many of us feel the urge to reset—to set goals, plan milestones, and imagine what’s next for our children. But when it comes to early childhood development, growth doesn’t need a dramatic restart. In fact, the most meaningful progress often comes from carrying forward what’s already working.

Your child has spent the past year learning in powerful, often invisible ways—through play, repetition, connection, and everyday moments. Instead of asking, “What should my child learn next?”, a gentler question might be: “What strengths, habits, and discoveries can we continue to nurture?”

Here’s what’s worth carrying into the new year from your child’s development so far.

1. Their Natural Curiosity

Your child’s curiosity is one of their greatest learning tools. Whether they spent the year dropping objects, opening and closing doors, lining up toys, or asking “why” repeatedly, these actions weren’t distractions—they were learning strategies. Curiosity shows us:

• How children test cause and effect
• How they build early problem-solving skills
• How they develop focus through interest

Carry this forward by: Allowing time for unstructured play, resisting the urge to “correct” exploration, and offering open-ended toys and materials that grow with your child’s ideas.

2. The Skills They’re Still Practicing

Development is not linear. Many skills—speech, emotional regulation, coordination—develop in loops rather than straight lines. If your child is still working on something they “almost mastered,” that’s not a setback. What looks like repetition is actually:

• Strengthening neural connections
• Building confidence
• Creating emotional safety around learning

Carry this forward by: Letting your child practice at their own pace, celebrating effort over outcomes, and trusting that revisiting skills is part of healthy growth.

3. Their Emotional Expressions

Big feelings may have been a defining feature of the year—tantrums, tears, bursts of joy, clinginess, or sudden independence. These are signs of emotional development, not misbehavior. Your child has been learning:

• How emotions feel in their body
• How safe it is to express them
• How adults respond to their inner world

Carry this forward by: Naming emotions, staying present during meltdowns, and remembering that emotional regulation is learned through co-regulation, not correction.

4. The Power of Everyday Routines

Much of your child’s learning happened during ordinary moments—mealtime, bath time, walks, bedtime routines. These predictable rhythms helped them understand the world and their place in it. Routines support:

• Language development
• Emotional security
• Independence and cooperation

Carry this forward by: Keeping routines flexible but consistent, inviting your child into small responsibilities, and using daily moments as opportunities for connection rather than instruction.

5. Your Child’s Unique Pace

Comparison can creep in easily at the start of a new year. But development is deeply individual. Your child’s timeline reflects their temperament, interests, and experiences—not a race. Your child may have shown:

• Strength in movement over language
• Social curiosity before independence
• Deep focus in play over quick transitions

Carry this forward by: Honoring their pace, trusting their process, and choosing support tools and toys that meet them where they are—not where they “should” be.

6. The Relationship You’ve Built

Perhaps the most important thing to carry into the new year is the relationship you’ve nurtured. Through responses, patience, shared laughter, and even hard moments, you’ve created a foundation of trust. This connection is what allows children to:

• Take risks in learning
• Return to adults for reassurance
• Feel safe being themselves

Carry this forward by: Protecting moments of togetherness, staying curious about your child, and remembering that presence matters more than perfection.

A Gentle Way Forward

The new year doesn’t need more pressure—for you or your child. Growth is already happening. By carrying forward curiosity, emotional awareness, routines, and connection, you give your child exactly what they need to continue thriving. Instead of asking, “What should we change?”, consider asking: “What do we want more of?”

More play. More patience. More trust in the process. That’s a beautiful place to begin.