Best Things About Five Year Olds

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Best Things About Five Year Olds. The ten best things about having a five year old. Things to cherish and savor that year.

Blonde haired girl against a yellow wall

Oh the five year old. This is the last year your child will be able to hold up one hand to show how old she is. This is the year she leaves early childhood behind her and transitions into childhood. It isn’t all sad; the childhood years are very calm overall. However, your little one will start to only grow up from here, so it is the last year of pure innocence. Here are my ten favorite things about five year olds.

1-They Aren’t Emotional

Most five year olds have learned to control their emotions quite well. After the roller coaster of emotions with the four year old, this is a very welcome relief. Now, one of my children was still emotional as a five year old. Not AS emotional as she was at four, but the emotions were still there.

2-They Are Still Innocent

The five year old is still an innocent being. You have this brief time in parenting when the child is not so needy and clingy, but is still a little child completely under your influence. Savor this.

3-They Are Still Willing to Be Little

The five year old will still curl up in your lap, hold your hand across the parking lot, and listen as you sing a lullaby at bedtime.

4-They Can Also Be Big

The five year old can be big when needed. She can get herself a drink, brush her own teeth, and put her shoes on. She can gather her things in the morning or grab her swim bag as you rush out the door to lessons.

5-They Still Have Rest Time

I love Rest Time. You can have rest time at any age, but a five year old still has it and at times will even still fall asleep during it. You still get dedicated time when all children are asleep or resting simultaneously.

Best Things About Five Year Olds. The ten best things about having a five year old. Things to cherish and savor that year. 

6-They Can Get Themselves Mostly Ready

A five year old can get ready primarily independently. My son showered and everything alone. With my girls and their long hair, they have needed help with showering as five year olds, but they can do most other things completely alone. This makes mornings much easier for mom and frees her up to focus on younger siblings.

7-They Usually Start School

Whether it is preschool or Kindergarten, the five year old usually starts school. While this can bring its issues–like Kindertude–it also brings a whole new world, new friends, and at least a couple of hours of your child being out of the house many days. This is all assuming you aren’t homeschooling. But even with homeschooling, your child will be so happy to have this increase of knowledge in life.

8-They Start to Develop Skills and Interests

All of my children started piano at age 5. They also were able to do things like swimming lessons, ice skating lessons, soccer…As they get older, more options become available to them and they are able to explore various interests. I think it is fun to watch my children grow.

9-They Learn to Read

Your five year old might learn to read a little or a lot, but as they star to learn to read, the world starts to change for them. It is the beginning of them taking the path to being able to read independently for fun.

10-They Start to Make Decisions Without You

This can be a thing to love and a thing to not like so much. When you have those parenting moments when your five year old makes the right choice even though no one was there to make him, it is a payday moment. I remember the day five year old Brayden told the neighbor boy that, no, he would not dump sand all over McKenna’s head because she is his sister and he loves her. Those are moments to look back on your last five years and know all of the little efforts were worth it.

See my child summaries to get a run down of what each of my four children was like as a five year old: Child Summaries Index

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