At 4 years old, your child experiences many emotions and begins to be able to solve the problems that are placed on him. Emotional development, motor skills, sociability, psychology: overview of the evolutions of the 4-year-old child.

The 4 year old child experiences a wide variety of emotions; he can now choose to express them or keep them to himself. For example, he is able to feel empathy and therefore will not always express a negative emotion if it calls into question someone else’s well-being. If your child has chosen to externalize what he feels, he chooses words more than gestures.

This process involves taking a step back: so he can say “I’m angry” rather than getting physically angry. 4 years old is also the age of new fears and anxieties: fear of abandonment, fear of the disappearance of parents, etc.

You must respect your child’s fears, not question him, but accept them as he confides them to you. The maturity of a 4-year-old child leads him to perceive, at least in part, the reason for rules and prohibitions. As a result, he accepts and respects constraints better. It is therefore an easier age to manage for parents who can now discuss with their child, explain their point of view and thus convey messages more fluidly.

From the top of his 4 years, your little one has become much more comfortable with his body. He runs nimbly, without tangling his legs and swinging his arms alternately. It is even able, during its race, to change direction quickly, to stop then to start again. His balance is much more stable and he can exert pressure without falling (by throwing a ball for example). Your 4-year-old can climb the ladder without any problem: he climbs and descends while remaining comfortable. He begins to take a liking to jumps: he now knows how to jump in the air with both feet.

When it comes to fine motor skills, your child is improving day by day. Precision tasks become easier (cutting with scissors following a path of simple shapes for example). It is able to screw on and unscrew a small cover, like the toothpaste tube. In the morning, he puts on his shoes on his own, even though he needs help to tie his shoelaces.

Do not hesitate to encourage your child to participate. Small responsibilities make him happy because they give him the opportunity to show what he can do.

Your child is now making friendships with children their age. He loves to play with his comrades because his egocentric character gradually disappears. Conflicts are therefore a little less frequent, especially when it comes to sharing toys or taking turns. On the other hand, at 4 years old, the child asserts his personality by insisting, for example, on what he wants to have or do. This can give rise to long discussions during which the child will not give in, or else, as a last resort.

With adults, the 4-year-old loves to converse and seeks their approval a lot. He speaks in complete sentences and describes for example what he has just done. The 4-year-old listens very carefully to the stories you tell him. He prefers them long and likes to have fun guessing what will happen next.

The 4-year-old loves to ask complex questions, sometimes as much for the answer as for the pleasure of formulating a question. He is able to name basic colors, count to 10, and knows the lyrics of a few songs. Your child is able to understand abstract terms, such as “before” or “after”. His speech becomes clear, and it is understood by the vast majority of people who listen to it, outside of the immediate family. He loves to create cause and effect links. These can be risky, because the overflowing imagination of the 4 year old child often takes precedence over reality. His games become realistic, and reproduce everyday situations: for example, he mimics that he is going to school, to the supermarket, or even to a restaurant.

Great challenges await your child soon like reading and writing. His sociability progresses slowly but surely towards more sharing with his comrades. The 4-year-old is also more docile and more receptive with adults.