When your child is 2–3 years old they will have a health and development visit with the Well Child Tamariki Ora nurse. Find out about things to think about before the visit.
Remember to take your child’s My Health Book with you to the visit.
What happens at the visit?
At the 2–3 years visit, the nurse will:
- measure your child’s height and weight, and check how they walk and move
- check that your child can see, hear and speak well
- check your child’s teeth and gums
- check your child’s development
- ask if your child has been immunised
- talk to you about preschool, daycare and kōhanga reo
- ask questions about your health and wellbeing, including family violence.
Your child’s development
The nurse will ask questions about your child’s learning, development and behaviour. They will ask how your child:
- talks and makes speech sounds
- understands what you say
- uses their hands and fingers to do things
- uses their arms and legs
- is learning to do things for themselves
- behaves
- gets along with others
- is learning preschool skills.
The nurse will also ask if you or your whānau have any concerns about your child. If there are problems, finding them early and supporting you to deal with them can make a big difference to you and your child.
Before the visit
Before your child’s visit, read through the 2–3 years check pages in the My Health Book. Think about how well your child can see, hear and talk.
Can your child see well?
Do they:
- recognise small details in picture books?
- hold objects really close to look at them?
- have a lazy eye, ‘cross’ eye or squint (when both eyes don’t look straight at you)?
Can your child hear and speak well?
By 2½ years do they:
- do 2 things when asked, like “get the ball and bring it here”?
- repeat what you say?
- continually learn new words?
- say simple sentences with 2 or more words in them?
- use many words that non-whānau members can understand?
Do they, by 3 years:
- speak clearly so that everyone can understand?
- ask lots of ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions?
Talk to your nurse or your doctor if you think your child is not seeing, hearing or speaking well.
Things to talk about at the visit
The visit is a good time to talk with the nurse about your child and being a parent. You could talk about:
- feeding your child
- your child’s behaviour and development
- ways to play, have fun and be active with your child
- teething, dental health and tooth-brushing
- being smokefree
- keeping your child safe – at home and while out and about
- toilet training
- choices for daycare, preschool and kōhanga reo
- whānau relationships.
Related websites
Early learning – Ministry of Education
Information about finding, choosing and starting out at a daycare, preschool or kōhanga reo.
