It’s not nature or nurture but a bit of both – tips for mastering skills

Keeping your child’s skills journey up-to-date makes sure the information and ideas you get are just right for your child – so, we’ve got some tips to help. 

When you look at webpages with lists of milestones or see a book that tells you what your child will be doing each month, it can seem like these are the same for every child. We know this simply isn’t the case.

Child development is complex and linked to individual characteristics as well as experiences and your app will help you understand, support and celebrate your child’s unique development. 

Check your child’s skills regularly  

Sometimes you might feel like your child hasn’t mastered any new skills, but our journey is not just about the big milestones we all notice easily – it’s also about the small steps that help your child on their way.  

You might be surprised by how many new skills they've mastered when you check, and while they might seem small at the time they have a big impact later. 

We suggest checking at least once a week, and marking anything you notice in between your regular checks too. This keeps your activities and other content up-to-date and just right for your child.  

Checking your child’s skills regularly also reminds you about all the steps you’re helping them to master, which might give you a lift if it’s been one of those days!    

If you want to know more about a skill before you mark it as mastered, there is more information when you tap the skill, in the activities and in the 'Discover more...' section on your Today screen. 

Look at the 'coming up' skills too 

As you help your child to master skills, your app will show what's likely to be next, we've used research and decades of experience to write the skills journey.

This means that most of the time you will see the skills your child is working on in the active list, but as every child is different sometimes there might be some in the 'coming up' list that you think are actually active.  

You can add skills from 'coming up' to 'active' – so together we can make the journey perfect for your child.  

To add a skill from coming up to active, simply tap it in your coming up list, then scroll to the bottom and press ‘Add to Active.’  

Move skills from 'mastered' to 'active'  

You might master a skill in your child’s journey by accident, or think it’s mastered but then when you chat to someone else who looks after your child decide it’s not quite second nature yet.  

If you do this, you can move a skill back from 'mastered' to 'active'; tap it in your mastered list and then press ‘Add Back into Active Skills’ at the bottom.  

Some skills take a bit more time 

Sometimes, you might look at your child’s skills and think, “That’s been there for ages, do I need to do anything?” Some children will take a bit longer to master some things or might get them in a slightly different order.  

For example, while many babies crawl first, then walk – some will take their first steps before they have a go at crawling. So, you might leave the crawling in your active skills and look in 'coming up' for some linked to walking. 

Above all trust your gut! If you think you or your child might need some extra support with any aspect of development have a chat with a professional. This might be a doctor, health visitor or any childcare professional who knows your family.

Enjoy the journey! 

We know it’s a bit of a cliché but we’re passionate about bringing the joy back to parenting and particularly to supporting and seeing our children develop.  

Not that every moment will be joyful, but that every child is learning and developing all the time and that parents are doing a brilliant and important job every day.   

By looking at your child’s individual journey, you'll see that with your support they’re making progress and mastering skills.

If there’s anything you want to know about the skills in your child’s journey, or if you have questions, drop our child development team an email at askusanything@mffy.com or pop a question in our Facebook community where our community manager Becki will be happy to help.