Your 4-Year-Old: Why All the Bonks and Bruises?

（唉！怎麼一個星期過得這麼快？）

Why All the Bonks and Bruises?怎麼一直受傷呢？

Bruises, scrapes, and even broken bones happen — especially to 4-year-olds, for some very good reasons. For one thing, preschoolers spend a lot of time being active and working on new skills. At the same time, their judgment and memory are not fully developed. Your child winds up taking risks — cycling too fast downhill, attempting to jump off something that's too high — without even realizing it.
前幾天幫她洗澡時，無意見發現鼠膝部竟然有兩條凝血的痕跡？問她也問不出來原因，只能說這個階段的小孩，真的特別容易受傷，幸好我們家是女生，不然小男生一定更容易有傷口吧！
Your 4-year-old now
Some preschoolers seem to do everything in hyperdrive, exploring their world with daring, curiosity, and speed. Watch a 4-year-old on the playground and you'll see someone with ever more confidence in her body and movements. She jumps over things, climbs stairs more confidently, and can catch and throw more accurately.
哈哈！這種俐落的手腳梓熏兩歲前就是這樣了，小馨呢？也沒錯！到了四歲半以後在遊樂場玩也更厲害，常常可看見比她小的小孩在玩滑梯，好在她不是莽撞型的小孩，遇到比她更猛的小男生玩遊戲，她反而會停下來、會生氣，怪別人都不遵守規矩...

The downside of this newfound confidence is that it's paired with a less-than-fully-mature brain. Net result: lots of risky moves. Fours love tricks and stunts, and their judgment hasn't caught up to their new physical skills. And while they can follow directions more easily, they don't always remember them.

That's why 4-year-olds at play still need supervision, as well as plenty of reminders. Because they don't see the dangers that adults are aware of, it's important to set limits and talk about safety in very specific, concrete terms. Stress the importance of helmets when they bike. Go over water safety rules every time you step into a pool. You don't want to put a stop to any play that seems "wild." Just be aware that this is an accident-prone time, so keep your guard up.

Your life now
Do you ever find nutritious meals hard to prepare in a time-crunched life? Enlist your child's help! It might seem like a child underfoot would make mealtime prep take longer, and at first it might. But your four-year-old is increasingly capable of simple chores like tearing lettuce, stirring, or kneading dough. Kids who are involved in food preparation tend to be open to a wide variety of foods because they have pride and interest in the process of bringing it to the table. Try preparing extra dishes in the evening in order to speed up dinner preparation the next day — it's a great way to spend quality time with your child, too!