Between 1 and 2 years your child may become more independent and their behaviour may change.
Title: Your Child: One to Two Years. Episode 10 of 15.
Title: Amiria & Watene’s Whānau
[Shots of Amiria and Watene’s family photographs.]
Amiria (voice-over): The biggest thing for me with my kids is knowing that they're happy, and that they're taken care of and shown that they'll always be loved.
[Shot of Tawhai.]
Title: Tawhai, 15 months old
[Interview with Amiria.]
Amiria: My name's Amiria. I'm twenty-seven. I have two kids – Kahukura, she's five, and Tawhai is fifteen months.
[Shots of Tawhai playing.]
Amiria (voice-over): Tawhai – he's full of energy, nonstop. He doesn't really sit down. He's very, very active. Other than his energy, he's such a peaceful, good baby.
[Erika arrives as Amiria’s house.]
Amiria (voice-over): The kids' Tamariki Ora Nurse is Erika.
[Interview with Erika.]
Title: Erika Ware, Well Child Tamariki Ora Nurse
Erika: Kia ora. I'm Erika and I'm here to see Amiria and Tawhai. Some of the things that we'll be assessing today with Tawhai is his general health, his development, his speech development – where he's at with that.
[Interview with Amiria.]
Amiria: You know, you don't have all the answers, but people like her are there to support. They’re there for you to ask any questions you may have.
[Amiria and Erika play with Tawhai.]
Erika: It's all normal and all part of the age and stage.
[Amiria reads picture books with her children.]
Erika (voice-over): Some of the things we can help with our children's learning and development are things like taking the time to read to them, sing to them, play with them. Talking's very important as well.
[Shots of Amiria showing her children how to use a poi.]
[Interview with Amiria.]
Amiria: There's so much you can do when it comes to safety, but you need to be able to let them learn as well.
[Interview with Erika.]
Erika: The number one important thing with safety in the home is always assessing what could be a potential problem. Children are learning how to walk and thinking they can run but they can't. Those kinds of things, we just need to think about.
[Interview with Amiria.]
Amiria: He's quite strong, so he's pulling himself up on cupboards, trying to get on the bookshelf, tables.
[Amiria secures a kitchen cupboard by putting a rubber band around the handles.]
Amiria (voice-over): I've had to put rubber bands around all the handles so that he can't get in. Just keeping a good eye on him because he's so active at this stage.
[Amiria feeds Tawhai an apple.]
Erika (voice-over): The basic steps for caring for teeth are getting our children into brushing morning and night, brushing for them after they've had a little bit of a turn, and making sure that we use soft toothbrushes and family fluoride toothpaste.
[Watene takes Tawhai outside to pick apples from a tree.]
Amiria (voice-over): My partner's a pretty active person. He likes to take the kids outside. The spare time that he does get, he makes the most of – spending with the kids – which I really love.
[Shots of Tawhai sleeping in his cot.]
Amiria (voice-over): I think it was about 10 months, we moved him into his own room. He's in his own room now. He's sleeping through the night. That did take a bit of effort from me and my partner to keep consistent with our routine.
[Tawhai attempts to swing a poi.]
Amiria (voice-over): What's important to our family is my kids knowing a bit about their identity. That's something that I encourage other Māori and Pacific families – be proud about your heritage and your whakapapa, and pass a little bit of that knowledge on to your kids. As much as you can.
Title: Our thanks to the families and health workers who appeared in this video for the Ministry of Health. Find out more about pregnancy and child health on www.health.govt.nz/yourhealth.
In this video, we we meet Amiria and Watene and their two children, Tawhai and Kahukura. Tawhai is 15 months old. Watch as Erika, the Well Child Tamariki Ora nurse, visits for Tawhai's 15-month-old check. Find out about safety in the home and how you can help your child learn and develop.
Helping children to learn to behave the way you want them to is one of the most important jobs of being a parent. Find out about managing your child's behaviour. Most small children have tantrums.
Fussy or picky eating is common in children under 5 years - but most children will eat when they are hungry.
Most children will be ready to start learning to use the toilet any time between about 20 months and about 3 years. Not all children are ready at the same age.
Babies and young children get sick often – it’s a normal part of childhood. Get help quickly if your child shows any of these danger signs.
