What is a 3 year old?

[MistyMountain]

I been seeing lots of references to 3 year olds being toddlers. I thought that a toddler is up to the 3rd birthday, so 1 and 2 year olds are toddlers and 3-5 year olds are preschoolers. So is a 3 year old a toddler or a preschooler?

[maize]

I say preschooler.

[JudoMom]

Preschooler.

[kentuckymom]

I also vote for preschooler. Anyone how calls a three year old a toddler is either weird or misinformed.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I agree, preschooler. 

 

But sure there is a sort of overlap there.  Kinda like I've encountered people who technically don't consider 13 year olds teens.  Homeschoolers will often advertise for some "teen" gathering and set the minimum age at 14.  So gee where does that leave the 13 year old?  He doesn't want to hang out with 5 year olds, but more time than not that's how they lump the groupings.  Same with three year olds.  A bit beyond toddlers, but not school age either.

 

 

[athomeontheprairie]

I wouldn't call a 3yo a preschooler-as I would use that term for the year (not the two years) before kindergarten.

I also would not refer to them as a toddler. Likely I would just call them my 3yo.

[zoobie]

Tiny cranky ball of destruction?

[catz]

I think of age 3-4-early 5 before K as preschoolers.  That said, meh, I don't mince words with people who call a 3 a toddler.  Some newer 3s are barely talking and not potty trained and that's more toddler like stuff.  There's a huge range of normal in the 3-5 set.

[athomeontheprairie]

Tiny cranky ball of destruction?

This is an accurate title

[Arcadia]

I thought toddlers are two and under. Childcare centers locally would consider a 3 year old a preschooler.

[Lolly]

Depends on if they are still in diapers. Diapers tend to make one have a toddle to their walk...Especially if it is loaded.

[athomeontheprairie]

I think of age 3-4-early 5 before K as preschoolers. That said, meh, I don't mince words with people who call a 3 a toddler. Some newer 3s are barely talking and not potty trained and that's more toddler like stuff. There's a huge range of normal in the 3-5 set.

The language comment hits home. I have a TINY 4yo in a class. He can barely talk. Can't reach the toilet or water fountain without help because of size. I completely see him as a toddler, despite being four.

Edited March 2, 2016 by athomeontheprairie

[Ravin]

Preschooler

[Tanaqui]

I'd say a young three year old MIGHT qualify as a toddler - if they don't walk or talk well, or if they were premature - but an older one, no matter what, wouldn't.

[Chris in VA]

Preschooler.

 

Fav title of parenting book--

The Three-Year-Old: Your Friend, Your Enemy 

 

:laugh: 

 

[Ellie]

I been seeing lots of references to 3 year olds being toddlers. I thought that a toddler is up to the 3rd birthday, so 1 and 2 year olds are toddlers and 3-5 year olds are preschoolers. So is a 3 year old a toddler or a preschooler?

 

IDK. I don't usually refer to children by school-age groupings, so I'm not sure I'd use "preschooler" at all. I'd probably just say "3yo" and be done with it. :-)

 

Seems to me a toddler would be younger than 3.

[zoobie]

I think of age 3-4-early 5 before K as preschoolers.  That said, meh, I don't mince words with people who call a 3 a toddler.  Some newer 3s are barely talking and not potty trained and that's more toddler like stuff.  There's a huge range of normal in the 3-5 set.

 

I have a just under 2 year old and a 3+ year old. Sometimes I say "my toddlers" without thinking because it's been a long 3+ years with that one and they seem really little compared to my bigger kids. Honestly, stringing words together in a coherent stream of thought is hard enough. If pressed, I'd say 3 is a preschooler. But really, I go back to my tiny, cranky ball of destruction definition. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

IDK. I don't usually refer to children by school-age groupings, so I'm not sure I'd use "preschooler" at all. I'd probably just say "3yo" and be done with it. :-)

 

Seems to me a toddler would be younger than 3.

 

Yeah true. Not sure why this would even come up.  I'd just say three year old.

 

 

[Loowit]

I think of 3 year old children as preschoolers.  However, when I worked in a daycare center the toddler department had a 2's and 3's room for those children that were not yet potty trained.  Your child had to be potty trained to move on to the preschool department.

[Seeking Squirrels]

Walking to 3rd birthday I call toddler. 3 & 4 I would call a preschooler if it was relative to school, but most of the time I just say "3 year old". I accidentally referred to DD3 as a toddler recently and it sounded way off. 7yo said "Toddler?!?! A isn't a toddler!" 

 

[pinkmint]

It seems like some moms call their 3 year old a toddler when they are trying to hang on to the littleness. Especially if it's their last child.

[FO4UR]

A 3yo is a baby in a big kid's body.

 

If I had to pick toddler or preschool, I'd pick preschooler.  But, I'm not arguing that.  I've know some 3yo's who were still very much in the toddler stage.  That's ok.

 

My current 3yo is a random mix of baby & big kid. 

 

We call her "Boss." :lol:

[mamiof5]

Tiny cranky ball of destruction?

Tornado was the first answer that came to my mind :)

[mamiof5]

Same here, I usually go by age, not groupings. And I tell mine they will always be my babies, and they'll never be too big or old for mom's lap...so it doesn't really matter :)

[lovinmyboys]

I think the only people I have heard call 3yr olds toddlers are moms whose last baby is 3. I don't think 3yr olds are toddlers.

 

However, my 3yr old (and last baby 😥) refers to himself as the baby. He doesn't act like a baby and I try to tell him he is not a baby, but he still says he is a baby.

[happypamama]

Generally, a preschooler. As is a 4yo. A 5yo is a kindergartener.

 

However, I lump my middle little boy (4.5) in with the littlest little boy sometimes and call them both babies or toddlers. Littlest little boy is 2.5, very independent, very mobile, halfway potty trained and doesn't have a lot of baby left in him. Otoh, 4.5yo is a shyer, less independent little guy but with a fantastic vocabulary, and he has been totally potty trained for quite a while, but there is a lot of baby in him still. So I call them both baby, and they don't mind. And the 7yo I call baby sometimes too, and he doesn't mind, even though he really has little baby in him still.

 

"The big kids" at my house might refer to the oldest two, or two the oldest three, or to the four oldest. Likewise, "the little boys" might be the two youngest, or the three youngest, and occasionally all four boys if we're distinguishing between DD and those who are 11 and younger. Most often, 4yo is a little kid, and 11yo is a big kid, but it's pretty fluid here.

 

And fwiw, I adore 3yo. They're funny and sweet and adorable and a total mix of baby and big kid. They are fun!

[purpleowl]

I usually refer to three-year-olds as preschoolers, though as others have said, some early-three kids who are less mature and/or less verbal may seem more like toddlers. 

 

As an aside, here's something I posted elsewhere about three-year-olds (though the child in question is now four):

 

I cannot tell you how many times I've had a stranger say, "Is she okay?" or "Did my child do something to her?" And I've responded with, "Oh, she's just three." Stranger will get a look of understanding-with-a-touch-of-terror in his/her eyes, nod, and back away slowly, saying, "Oh. Three." As soon as they get a respectable distance away, they turn and run like crazy.

 

 

[SKL]

I would call a 3yo a preschooler.  However, I could understand viewing a young 3 as a toddler based on behavior, and whether s/he uses verbal communication like a typical preschooler.

 

Once a guy posted an article about his (not special needs) 5yo throwing a tantrum, and the discussion generally referred to the boy as a "toddler."  That was when I realized that I might be a different sort of parent, LOL.

[Lb20inblue]

I read the title to my husband and he said crazy. Three year olds are like crazy drunk people. :)

[MistyMountain]

I am mostly talking about news stories or parenting articles that refer to local toddlers that are 3 or your 3 year old toddler. It does not bother me what other parents call their kids. I usually refer to ages rather then toddler or preschooler but I do think of toddlers as 1 and 2 year olds and preschoolers as 3 and 4 year olds even if they do not go to school.

 

3 year olds are still little to me and have some big kid qualities and some babyish qualities. They can be tornado like but with my kids 3 was not the hardest year behavior wise. I called my youngest the baby the longest even after she no longer was a baby but I knew she was not really a baby she just was my baby/ the youngest.

[Barb_]

I just popped in to say that I get the giggles every time I read the thread title. My brain fills in something different every time.

[bolt.]

I think that many 3 year olds are toddlers (especially pre-potty training, and not yet talking to strangers) at least for part of that year.

 

Kids become toddlers when they walk, not when they hit a certain age -- so I think they leave that stage by a general impression of their development, not their age.

 

I also kinda thought that 'preschooler' meant 'one who attends a preschool' which also varies independently of age. It's always felt pretty vague to me.

[Amy in NH]

Birth-3 months = Newborn

4-12 months = Infant

13-36 months = Toddler

3-5 years = Preschooler

[MaeFlowers]

Given my current three year old dd's personality, I would say a tiny teenager. Given the options, I say preschooler.

[vonfirmath]

I'd say a young three year old MIGHT qualify as a toddler - if they don't walk or talk well, or if they were premature - but an older one, no matter what, wouldn't.

 

This is where I stand. 3 year olds start the year as a toddler. But they are a preschooler before you turn 4. You will not see the change. You'll just look up one day and go "wow. She's not little anymore"

[Tsuga]

I been seeing lots of references to 3 year olds being toddlers. I thought that a toddler is up to the 3rd birthday, so 1 and 2 year olds are toddlers and 3-5 year olds are preschoolers. So is a 3 year old a toddler or a preschooler?

 

Just like a 21 year old can be an adult or an adolescent, it depends.

 

I think those stages, baby, toddler, pre-school child, schoolchild, adolescent, adult are culturally defined and also vary from person to person. I've seen three-year-old toddlers and I've seen three-year-olds on the cusp of school readiness.

 

And it tells you nothing about the person they will finally become.

 

I assume when someone refers to their three-year-old toddler, their child is spending a long time in developing into the pre-school child they will become. Maybe because they have such a big brain, it takes a while to convert. Maybe it is a traumatic situation, and maybe that individual just is the type to take their time in development.

[Tsuga]

I read the title to my husband and he said crazy. Three year olds are like crazy drunk people. :)

 

This is actually the correct answer, LOL.

[LibraryLover]

I think 3 yr old peeps are babies. I am not fond of the word 'preschooler', but I love the word 'toddler'. I am not fond of places called 'Preschool', but I love places called 'Nursery'.  

 

And anyone bothered by this arbitrary toddler/preschool crud needs a rain check. And I say that in the least cranky way possible. :) Truly.

Edited March 3, 2016 by LibraryLover

[rebbyribs]

I thought "toddler" was just for walking through turning 2, maybe a little past 2 but not all the way to age 3.  I call my almost-4 year old and my 2.5 year old my "little guys" and would generally call the age range from 2-5 "little kids".  I'm not doing (much) preschool stuff with them, so I wouldn't call them "preschoolers".  

 

My 3yo sometimes refers to himself and his younger brother as "squonkers" (skwunkers?, squunkers? I have no idea how to spell it).

[Tanaqui]

This is where I stand. 3 year olds start the year as a toddler. But they are a preschooler before you turn 4. You will not see the change. You'll just look up one day and go "wow. She's not little anymore"

 

And then it happens a year or two later when you realize the "big kids" are only kindergarten babies and - gosh, she's one of 'em!

[TianXiaXueXiao]

To me a 3 yo is not a toddler but a tot.

[Daria]

I wouldn't call a 3yo a preschooler-as I would use that term for the year (not the two years) before kindergarten.

I also would not refer to them as a toddler. Likely I would just call them my 3yo.

 

In our area, the public schools used to call the year before Kindergarten PreKindergarten, and the year before that preschool.  Now, they call them PreK3 and PreK4. 

 

So, in my mind 3 year olds are very much preschoolers.  Having said that, if you want to talk about 2's and 3's together as a group, then the word toddler is fine by me.

[SKL]

The word toddler annoys me and I never used it when my kids were that age.  If I felt it necessary to specify their stage of development, I might say "tots."  Mostly I just said "kids" or "brats" or "chicks" ....

[BarbecueMom]

I am mostly talking about news stories or parenting articles that refer to local toddlers that are 3 or your 3 year old toddler. It does not bother me what other parents call their kids. I usually refer to ages rather then toddler or preschooler but I do think of toddlers as 1 and 2 year olds and preschoolers as 3 and 4 year olds even if they do not go to school.

 

3 year olds are still little to me and have some big kid qualities and some babyish qualities. They can be tornado like but with my kids 3 was not the hardest year behavior wise. I called my youngest the baby the longest even after she no longer was a baby but I knew she was not really a baby she just was my baby/ the youngest.

This is going to sound morbid, but I noticed the news "demotes" a child down a level in the event of a tragic death. A 2yo is a toddler, but a 2yo who died in a hot car becomes a baby/infant in the news story. 3yo, preschooler. 3yo who drowned, toddler. I think these situations are horrific enough on their own without rewording things for sensational purposes.

[SKL]

Yes, I do find it annoying when the media refers to kids as if they were younger / more helpless than they are.  Mostly because I feel the media is encouraging people to underestimate children, which is ultimately not in the child's best interest.

 

FTR, "Toddler" in my kids' daycare was 12-30 months.