Dr. MacNamara, a faculty member of the Neufeld Institute and the Director of Kid’s Best Bet counselling and family resource centre, is the author of Rest, Play, Grow.

She comments, “Preschoolers know much better than they behave, and the good intentions can be short lived.  There is no better test to adult maturity than the immature ways of the preschooler.  The secret to taking care of them is to understand their immaturity isn’t a mistake but part of their developmental design….  Preschoolers are immature for a good reason – their brains are still under development and in the first three years of life alone, 100 billion neurons will develop 1000 trillion connections under ideal conditions.  Their brains won’t fully integrate until between the ages of 5 to 7, or 7 to 9 years for more sensitive children (defined as those more responsive to environmental stimuli).”

The one-page infographic http://macnamara.ca/portfolio/infographic-the-preschooler-personality/ provides information on the following behaviours:

• Lack of self-control and impulsive
• Egocentric
• Seek contact and closeness
• Fear separation
• Prone to resistance
• Integrity
• Playful
• Lack true consideration
• Prone to frustration and aggression
• Shy with people they don’t know