Bright Futures Milestone Category

Social-Emotional

Milestone Name	Expected Age
May help in the house	15
Has periods of wakefulness	0
Responsive to parental voice and touch	0
Is able to sustain periods of wakefulness for feeding	0
Will gradually become able to establish longer stretch of sleep (4 to 5 hours at night)	0
Has indefinite regard of surroundings	0
Is responsive to calming actions when upset	1
Attempts to look at parent	2
Smiles	2
Is able to console and comfort self (brings hands to midline and mouth)	2
Smiles spontaneously	4
Elicits social interactions	4
Shows solidified self-consolation skills	4
Is socially interactive with parent	6
Recognizes familiar faces and is beginning to recognize whether a person is a stranger	6
Has developed apprehension with strangers	9
Seeks parent for play and comfort, and as a resource	9
Plays interactive games (eg, “peek-a-boo,” “pat-a-cake”)	12
Imitates activities	12
Hands you a book when he wants to hear a story	12
Waves “bye-bye”	12
Has a strong attachment with parent or significant caregiver	12
Shows distress on separation from parent	12
Listens to a story	15
Imitates activities	15
Is interactive or withdrawn, friendly or aggressive (eg, hitting, biting)	18
Laughs in response to others	18
Explores alone but with parent in close proximity	18
Is spontaneous with affection	18
Helps in house	18
Imitates adults	24
Increases pretend play (eg, rocking, feeding, or putting baby doll to bed)	24
Plays alongside other children (parallel play)	24
Refers to self more often as “I” or “me”	24
May have established a special attachment to a transitional object	24
Imaginary play, such as with dolls and toys, is increasing	30
Play is starting to include other children to an increasing degree, such as play tea parties or chase games	30
Has fears about unexplained changes in his physical environment and unexpected events (common in children of this age)	30
Has self-care skills (eg, self-feeding and self-dressing to the extent this is desired and permitted within individual family and cultural norms)	36
Imaginative play is becoming more elaborate, with specific themes or story lines demonstrated	36
Enjoys interactive play	36
Describes features of himself, including gender, age, interests, and strengths	48
Is responsive or withdrawn	48
Is friendly or hostile/aggressive	48
Is cooperative or defiant	48
Acts appropriately for the community’s or family’s cultural values	48
Plays with favorite toys (describe play)	48
Listens to stories	48
Engages in fantasy play	48