While you still see your four- or five-year-old as your precious little one, the kids themselves now feel like they’ve attained big boy and big girl status, and they’re likely even showing flashes of the adults they’ll one day become. A major part of this growth and independence is them flexing their newfound linguistic muscles, as they’ve learned that language is a crucial tool to feeling and appearing grown up.
This is of course a wonderful and welcome step on the journey to language mastery, but it can lead to some unexpected detours into not-so-wonderful things like telling little lies, insulting people, and even copying swear words they’ve heard (though surely not from you). Events like these will hopefully still be humorous at this stage, but even if they try your patience, remember that little fibs and bad words show development and growth in their own weird way.
Growing into Longer and More Complex Sentences
To go along with their rapidly growing bodies, four- and five-year-olds are growing their vocabularies and sentences. They’re testing the waters of more abstract ideas like if/then statements, and slowly but surely learning how to use some (but probably not all) irregular verbs or nouns. This is a work in progress, so while you may be happy to hear your child finally say “ran” instead of “runned,” don’t despair when they later say “tooths” instead of “teeth.”
Another recognized language marker at this age is the increased usage of conjunctions and compound sentences. Kids at this stage of their development are often so enthusiastic about their ever-increasing power to use language that you get never-ending sentences like “I got a toy and it was a car and it was blue and I love blue…” Smile and nod and be proud of what an accomplished little motormouth they’ve become.
Stories, Stories, and More Stories
While kids of all ages love stories, this is an age where they actually understand enough words to be able to enjoy a wide range of stories in books, shows, and even kids’ movies. They’re also starting to sharpen their own storytelling skills, and may impress you with funny characters, scary stories, and of course many fanciful adventures where they are the protagonist.
While most kids still can’t read at this age, they may be starting to discern letters, like the first letter in their name, and you should encourage this during a bedtime story or just when you see letters on billboards or in stores during your daily routine. You can incorporate brief letter lessons into storytime by playing “Find the S” or whatever letter they have an affinity for.
Heading off Potential Problems
Though grammar slip-ups and pronunciation missteps are absolutely still to be expected at four to five years old, this is an age where parents, healthcare providers, and educators can recognize and diagnose more significant language-related issues, such as auditory problems, stuttering, and having a lisp. While this can be concerning to a parent, it’s in fact a blessing in disguise at this age, as speech pathologists often have tremendous success with kids in this age group.
If you’re concerned about something you’re hearing or not hearing, feel free to talk to your child’s daycare or school, then move on to a talk with their primary physician. Again, no one is expecting flawless speech at this stage (and listening in on a larger group of similar-aged kids will show you that nobody’s near perfect at this age), but this is a period when you can start to get an indication of real, fixable issues and take care of them easily.
Final Thoughts and How to Help Kids Continue their Linguistic Journey
Age four to five is an exciting time because not only are kids producing more and comprehending more input, but their language is still at a malleable stage where you can correct errors and help them finetune their speaking skills. Unlike adults, kids can usually brush off speaking mistakes and gaffes without a second thought, which helps them speed through their language acquisition process.
As their caregiver or parent, you should help guide them when you can, in a gentle and encouraging manner for most things, but perhaps a little more sternly for bad words and the like. It’s also important to make sure they have a variety of picture books, kids’ books, and other resources available, and not fall into the trap of letting them zone out in front of the tablet or television. Kids at this age will likely adore kids’ shows and cartoons, but you need to be judicious in what and how much they watch. As much as possible, watch along with them so that you can have an ongoing conversation about what they’re seeing and hearing to try to turn it into more of a learning experience.
There will be bumps along the road and many challenges ahead on their linguistic journey, namely reading and all that rapidly approaching schoolwork, but by this point, you have a good understanding of where your child is at and what you can help him or her with as they continue on their incredible path towards language mastery.
