We’re now 5 months into having a 5 year old daughter so I thought I’d do a follow up post to the one I did last year on 5 Things You Need To Know About 4 Year Olds.
My 5 year old seems to have kept all of the traits that I blogged about last year, and added some delightful new ones.
So here we go, here are 5 things you need to know about 5 year olds…
They’re bossy
“She’s not bossy, she’s assertive”. No, she’s bossy. She bosses me and the husband about, and if we go to the park or to see friends I can here her bossing the other kids about. It’s not in a nasty way and I guess a lot of it is down to being an only child. Hopefully these skills will come in handy later!
They answer back
This one seems to have started fairly recently. Some days it feels like everything I say gets answered with “No it’s not” or some other cheeky comment. I have to remind myself not to argue with a 5 year old but unfortunately we both like to have the last word!
They know stuff
Not that younger children are stupid, but after a year of school these 5 year olds are certainly pretty switched on. You can’t pull the wool over Little H’s eyes when it comes to bedtime now as she’s learning to tell the time. You can’t skip ahead when you read her a story as she can pretty much follow the words on the page. And we get a lot of “but my teacher said…” when you try and explain something.
They’re fickle
Food that Little H ate with no issues for the first 4 years of her life, she now hates. Kids that she was desperate to play with last week at school are now annoying or boring. Activities that she used to beg us to do with her are now “for babies”. I just can’t keep up!
They understand bribery
One good point of having a slightly older child is that they can be reasoned with now. They understand consequences (and bribery!) and it makes getting them to do things a lot easier. Even if they do sometimes play you at your own game when it comes to agreeing to do something in return for a biscuit or pack of Haribo.
There’s plenty more, but I wouldn’t want to scare off the mums of children under 5!
If you’re a parent of a 5 year old can you relate to any of these?
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oh your 5 year old sounds so cool, she’s a tiny little boss isn’t she. I can’t wait for my son to reach that age and his little character to shine through #fortheloveofBLOG
I could have wrote this last year. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but all this applies to six year olds too haha
I’m dreading the time Pinky can tell the time. She’s three at the moment so me telling her its really late and must be bedtime still works… She is already bossy though! She’s had that down for a long time now.
#fortheloveofBLOG
Not sure if my last message went through so apologies if this is a duplicate.
These are all great and very true. And by 7 they know absolutely everything!
#KCACOLS
Haha this made me giggle! My eldest is really getting to grips with her words, I’m sure it cant be long before she starts answering back!
Haha, now i know what is coming, thank you! My boy is 4, and I just read your post about 4 year olds and I can relate to all of them – you are soooo right! xx
#MarvMondays
My eldest will turn 5 in January and after only half a term at school she is already showing some of these traits! Fortunately she can’t tell the time yet! #KCACOLS
YES to all of these my son is five and granted it is easier than four but it is a tricky age…he is the KING of bribery now, mummy I will tidy away my toys if I can have some tv?! Also he is really demanding its mummy mummy mummy constantly. Luckily he is coming out of the taking offence to food phase and peas and sweetcorn are allowed back into the house! School turns them into tiny bosses that come out with amazing sentences like…planes have hyper trails and Pluto is no longer classed as a planet because of its size! Thank you for sharing and linking up to #KCACOLS, we hope to see you next Sunday x
To add to your point that they know things, I’ve also realised that I can’t get away with as much with my 5 year old now that he’s able to read stuff! x #KCACOLS
Ha ha! Wow I’m (not) looking forward to my daughter being 5. She’s already showing a few of these traits at the age of 15 months, where she’s already bossy and demanding. Thanks so much for linking up at #fortheloveofBLOG. Claire x
I agree with the only child thing my daughter is an only child and she is so bossy too! Everyone has to do things her way or not at all. At 10 she is showing no signs of outgrowing it either! #kcacols
Yeah, I was worried that the bossy thing was going to be here to stay! 😉
Such a useful post, I love the idea of a things you need to know by age post. Should I be worried that I’ve already spotted some of these traits in my three year old?! *gulp*. Great post, thanks for sharing it on #MarvMondays. Emily
My middle child is currently five, so a lot of this sounds familiar! “They know stuff” indeed… and they keep on knowing more stuff at six and seven too…. Can’t get away with anything these days! x
I can Imagine when my son who is 2 is older he is already cheeky even though he don’t say many words yet. I can definitely see that answering back will be something he does as he doesn’t like not getting his own way.
Oh dear lord! hahahah I love the bossy part of this.. I can imagine while being bossy has some great adult future prospects it must be bloody hard to live with all the same! lol
I totally agree with all of these – especially how fickle they are 😉
I have two under 3 years old but I used to work with 4 and 5 year olds and yep, nodding along with all 5 points! Sounds exactly right.
Eeekkk! This sounds like my three year old! Lord help me when she gets to five! X