[Pup-pup]

My DD1 is about to turn 3. I am thinking about TTC #3, and want an idea what an average 4 year old is like.

1. Does your 4 year old ever need a pram?
2. Can your 4 year old dress & feed themselves?
3. What about tantrums?
4. If you had a newborn and a 4 year old, what was it like?
5. What things changed from age 3 to 4.

[CallMeProtart]

My DS is 3 and DD 4, but I'm not sure how many of their differences are personality.

My DD1 is about to turn 3. I am thinking about TTC #3, and want an idea what an average 4 year old is like.

1. Does your 4 year old ever need a pram? No. But if the walk is long she MAY get tired and go on strike, so I might decide to bring one if it's easy and flat. If shopping, I just put her in the trolley when tired
2. Can your 4 year old dress & feed themselves? Yes, but there is a LOT of nagging involved.
3. What about tantrums? Shocking. Worse than 3yo. This probably varies from child to child.
4. If you had a newborn and a 4 year old, what was it like? n/a
5. What things changed from age 3 to 4. It may be just my kids but 3 involved a LOT of me repeating myself and nagging, and it's starting to tone down at four. Much more easy to reason with, which is great. Tantrums have got a bit worse for some reason - it's straight to tears for minor things. All the stuff they could already do (dressing, tidying away under extreme nagging) they do better and quicker than 3

[bluecardigans]

My DD1 is about to turn 3. I am thinking about TTC #3, and want an idea what an average 4 year old is like.

1. Does your 4 year old ever need a pram? Only if I am walking long distances/at a fast pace for exercise and he wants to come with me.
2. Can your 4 year old dress & feed themselves? Most dressing, can feed self without help.
3. What about tantrums? Rare.
4. If you had a newborn and a 4 year old, what was it like? NA
5. What things changed from age 3 to 4. The ability to dress, put shoes on, will tidy up now just with verbal instructions, can understand having to wait for things including attention, understands that he needs to be tolerant of younger children.

[iwanttosleepin]

1.My 4 year old doesn't NEED a pram. I actually don't own one anymore. But he is the world's biggest con artist and I end up carrying him a fair bit. It's my biggest pet peeve with him at the moment. Next time we go shopping I am taking a scooter - he can go for miles on one. I would never buy a double pram for a 4 year old.
2. yes and yes - but he does sometimes refuse to get dressed though. He can do shoes and socks no problem. He does go to school full time and they expect full toilet independence and ability to dress themselves from every child - the youngest of which is only just 3 years old. So in his class every single child is fully toilet trained and able to dress themselves and they are all 3 and 4 year olds.
3. Doesn't tantrum, but is a great whinger
4. I had a newborn and a 3.3 year old. My older child is/was easier than my second child. he has a great attention span and loves making/drawing/lego etc. Number 2 is a wiggly worm.
5. Neither of my children tidy up really (including the 7 year old) but my DH puts that down to genetics not age. I can honestly say that even at 7 they can still be impatient but at least they can entertain themselves for longer.

[lynnemine]

DD1 is 4.5 - she dresses herself always, sleeps through unless she wets the bed, feeds herself, chooses her own clothes and what she wants for breakfast, to watch on TV, what books, what art/craft. She will happily sit and do "crafting" for HOURS. She hardly ever throws a tantrum now and loves to be my "helper". She is also very good with smaller kids. No pram.

DD2 turns 3 in March. She can undress herself and some items can dress herself. She doesn't sleep through. ever. She still needs a pram for long distances or to keep her contained/with me/stop touching. She feeds herself. She chooses her own clothes and food mostly. Chooses her own TV/books/activities. Will NOT play independently for hours like her sister, but will happily destroy for hours if not supervised properly. Not real interested in being 'Mum's helper'. Wants to be super-independent however.

Mine were 20 months apart. I think now would be a great time to have a 3rd - much easier.

[GoneWithTheWhing...]

My DD1 is about to turn 3. I am thinking about TTC #3, and want an idea what an average 4 year old is like.

1. Does your 4 year old ever need a pram? Not used one in months - she grew too tall and her head wouldn't fit under the hood so we had to say bye to it. She still gets tired on full days out but at 25kg she's too heavy to carry so her legs HAVE to work!

2. Can your 4 year old dress & feed themselves? Yes, chooses own clothes and gets fully dressed daily. Usually in appropriated clothes but sometimes a fairy dress is worn. Feeds herself fully, gets her own breakfast and can make her own simple sandwich

3. What about tantrums? She is a fiery madam at times, sometimes she is the sweetest funniest kindest girl but other time OMG, vile! She gets very frustrated when she can't do things she feels she ought to because her big sister can do them. She also has a huge sense of fairness and will pull other kids up if they aren't being fair which causes her upset when they ignore her!

4. If you had a newborn and a 4 year old, what was it like? Can't help there

5. What things changed from age 3 to 4. So much more independent, she is able to draw and write simple words so her frustration in her pictures is lessening. She is more able to understand reason and responds really well to being in control of her own choices which she couldn't comprehend at 3. She is also far more able to play independently and her confidence in herself is improving.

[katrina24]

Hi, I've had 2 very different 4 yr olds.

Pram - neither used a pram except for really long walks (like a walk for my exercise).
Feed and dress - yes to both. Still cut up their meat and firmer salads, veges at 4. Needed help with some buttons, shoe laces and occasionally tighter t-shirts coming off.
Tantrums - DD1 wasn't a tantrum haver, DD2 still has them occasionally but usually at home.
I never had a newborn and a 4 yo but I have very close friends who had a newborn when both mine were 4 (2 different newborns obviously). Both my girls were great when I babysat and were quite helpful. Preschoolers can often be fairly self sufficient for short periods and can get some one:one time while bub is sleeping.
Changes from 3-4 - more understanding, preschools brings increased independence, better communication all round really.

[gettheetoanunner...]

My DD1 is about to turn 3. I am thinking about TTC #3, and want an idea what an average 4 year old is like.

1. Does your 4 year old ever need a pram? Not since he was two/three. He walks and is a big lad. I'm 5 ft 8 and he is too big to carry
2. Can your 4 year old dress & feed themselves? Yep- insists upon it
3. What about tantrums? Yep, those too. More than when he was three.
4. If you had a newborn and a 4 year old, what was it like? The four yr old was fine, not jealous and more "into" the baby than the others and remains quite protective of her.
5. What things changed from age 3 to 4. Independence. Less instruction needed, but more negotiation required..actually, not so much negotiation more like compromise, on both our parts.
BUT -to qualify these statements, I've had three very different 4 yr old boys. My eldest lad was more prone to tantrums than his younger siblings. DS2 was and still is the cruisiest laid back child...any more chill and he would be horizontal and always wanted to be carried or be in the pram.

[niggles]

My DD1 is about to turn 3. I am thinking about TTC #3, and want an idea what an average 4 year old is like.

1. Does your 4 year old ever need a pram?
2. Can your 4 year old dress & feed themselves?
3. What about tantrums?
4. If you had a newborn and a 4 year old, what was it like?
5. What things changed from age 3 to 4.

We had our second a few months before DD turned 4.

1. She doesn't need a pram. Sometimes she asks for one but she doesn't need it and we haven't used it for her since well before the baby was born. Sometimes she'll jump her feet up on the back axle and ride that way if she gets tired.

2. We haven't fed her for as long as I can remember. Certainly well before she turned 4. She can dress herself but isn't great with buttons. She's also quite slow at times so we generally include ourselves in her getting dressed routine even now at 4.5 if nothing but to jolly her along a little and take care of difficult buttons.

3. Her tantrums were in the form of drop to the floor and cry melt downs and she still has them occasionally. They are much more rare and we can head them off generally since doing some excellent work in this area with her kindy teacher that we carried on at home. Specifically the PATHS programme and 'doing the turtle' to express your feelings, if you are interested.

4. She was 3.5 and starting 4 year old kindy when we had a newborn. She's not motherly like some girls her age so it's mostly been cruisy between the two of them. She's only recently started paying him regular attention. She's been proud of him and considers him 'our baby' but she hasn't liked to interact with him much at all until now. Even now he only gets a quick play now and then. She is very gentle with him, never tries to interfere with him and is very good at managing him when he picks up her toys and the like. Overall I can't complain at all. She's just not very 'into babies' as she put it to me once.

She's of an age that allows me to shower and leave them alone together and such. I can also leave her playing by herself while I take him to another room to feed and settle him for a while. She's very patient and understanding about that and never shows signs of jealousy, only of pride when he does something new or funny, annoyance or disinterest when he does anything else.

5. I can't remember what changed. I'm terrible at that. She's better at managing her emotions and talking through her problems. She's more independent in some ways and then not in others. She's funnier, more opinionated and more single minded and focussed in her interests. She'll spend more time on any one project. Personality wise I find her much the same as she was as a baby.

[MrsPotatoHead]

1. Does your 4 year old ever need a pram? No, I do take a strolli rider so he can sit down on our way home from kindy if ge gets tired though.
2. Can your 4 year old dress & feed themselves?Yes, isn't very good with coordinating outfits yet though
3. What about tantrums?Only when he is tired but will listen when you ask him to calm down and will then listen to us so we can reason with him.
4. If you had a newborn and a 4 year old, what was it like?He is so good with DD, I imagine having just a 4yo and a newborn would be a breeze (compared to my current situation which isn't that bad).
5. What things changed from age 3 to 4.
He listens better now and can we reasoned with, also he is at kindy 2 days a week so my attention is only divided 3 ways on those days. :)Besides that not much has changed with his personality.