# At what age is a child no longer a toddler? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 6, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958 "2014-08-06T16:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/21 "2014-08-07T12:47:24Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Once they stop toddling, of course. > > Toddle: walk via short, unsteady steps. One too many beers added to my vestibular deficit and I’m a toddler! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/22 "2014-08-07T13:24:36Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Agree. Usually around the third birthday or shortly thereafter\*, these things happen and I no longer call someone a “toddler.” > > (\*our 3.75-year-old isn’t yet fully potty trained, though. But he’s no longer a toddler, in my book.) There are definite changes sometime between about 2.5 and 3 that change the kid from being what amounts to a walking baby, into a full-fledged child. They start talking more, what they say makes more sense, their motor skills improve drastically, and so do their social skills. That’s more or less why 3 is the dividing line between toddler and small child. (I think technically the time period 3-5 is called “early childhood” by educators and developmental specialists) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/23 "2014-08-07T13:35:08Z")
I agree with the language skills. Once I can hold a reasonable conversation with a child, toddlerhood is over. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/24 "2014-08-07T15:57:07Z")
At the national chain of day-care centers Mighty Mite briefly attended: Infant \<15 months Toddler 15 months to 2.75/3.0 (diapers required) Preschooler 2.75/3.0 to 5.0/5.99 (no diapers allowed) The 2.75-3.0 range was for those who needed time to transition out of diapers. 5.0-5.99 range depends on your birthday. If you could have started first grade last September you’re not allowed in daycare. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/25 "2014-08-07T16:50:25Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I agree about the language thing. Once a kid can walk and potty and talk well enough to hold a kiddie conversation. So I’d say 4-5 depending on the kid. I agree with this. The problem is mothers and fathers can understand their kid fluently long before anyone else can. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/26 "2014-08-07T20:11:49Z")
If they can cough or sneeze without falling on their butt then they are no longer a toddler 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/27 "2014-08-07T21:34:22Z")
Thinking back to my youth, in those days, if you were 3 you could play outside without a parent hovering over you. You weren’t a toddler anymore. You were old enough to understand the basic rule: DO NOT CROSS THE STREET. I remember once Eddie and I were griping about Jimmy. Jimmy thought he was the boss because he was FOUR!. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/28 "2014-08-07T21:55:26Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s just weird calling a kid a preschooler if they aren’t actually in, well, preschool. I call it Pre-K. ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_Gaurav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Trisha\_Gaurav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_Gaurav)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/29 "2020-03-24T23:57:11Z")
When they stop toddling. So sometime before they are three years old. > [@BigT](#): > > It’s just weird calling a kid a preschooler if they aren’t actually in, well, preschool. The word “preschool” is derived from “preschooler”, not the other way around. A child officially becomes a preschooler on their third birthday. > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > At the national chain of day-care centers Mighty Mite briefly attended: > > Infant \<15 months > Toddler 15 months to 2.75/3.0 (diapers required) > Preschooler 2.75/3.0 to 5.0/5.99 (no diapers allowed) > > The 2.75-3.0 range was for those who needed time to transition out of diapers. > 5.0-5.99 range depends on your birthday. If you could have started first grade last September you’re not allowed in daycare. Five-year-olds are not preschoolers. To say that kindergarten isn’t school is an insult to kindergarten teachers everywhere. Just because kindergarteners aren’t taught math, history, language arts, or science doesn’t mean they aren’t learning. Just because they don’t get homework or assignments doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking. Just because they get only three hours of class time doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be called schoolchildren. Just because it kindergarten isn’t a real grade doesn’t mean it isn’t school. One day, when my brother, who is a year and twenty-six days older than me was in kindergarten, he took a black-and-white rabbit home. Mr. Swanson had apparently been teaching his class responsibility by letting each child take the class pet home for a week. My brother foolishly fed the rabbit a chocolate chip cookie. The rabbit, of course, got sick, and Mr. Swanson was furious. Before my last year of high school, we moved to a rural area and I started going to a school that taught kids from _kindergarten_ through 12th grade. There was even a kindergartener who I would see on the school bus every evening except when her parents would pick her up— she carried a Frozen-themed backpack and would sometimes sit next to me and talk to me. > [@Bone](#): > > I call it Pre-K. Pre-K refers to the _second_ year of preschool. I don’t know what the first year is called. If someone knows, please tell me! ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/30 "2020-03-25T04:17:45Z")
Preschooler? I call them little boys, little girls and little kids. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/31 "2020-03-25T22:05:25Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > I live in the same world as you, evidently! Although my FIL still calls my 11-year-old daughter “the baby” sometimes…despite the fact that I also have a 9-year-old son. He means it in a loving way, and I think it’s because my daughter was the first grandchild to come along in quite a few years and also the only one who lived close by until my son came along 2 years later, so for a while she was THE baby. My Aunt was ‘babs’ until the day she died, in her 90’s. Some things being the first child is just stuck with… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/32 "2020-03-25T22:25:47Z")
Roughly speaking: 0-23 months, baby, 2-3, toddler, 4, pre-schooler, 5, kindergartner. ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_Gaurav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Trisha\_Gaurav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_Gaurav)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/33 "2020-03-26T00:48:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Roughly speaking: 0-23 months, baby, 2-3, toddler, 4, pre-schooler, 5, kindergartner. Is there any word that encompasses kids from 5-7? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/34 "2020-03-26T10:51:14Z")
> [@Trisha\_Gaurav](#): > > Is there any word that encompasses kids from 5-7? 'round these parts, them’s youngins. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/35 "2020-03-26T11:31:09Z")
I work in a preschool. I think kids a few months past two aren’t toddlers, even if they aren’t potty-trained. Potty-training has been pushed back way later than it was for those us who spent infancy in cloth diapers. When our parents have to deal with buckets of dirty diapers, and fer cripes’ sake, wash them, or were blessed with a diaper service that dropped of huge bags of clean diapers, and picked up the dirty ones, had to deal with bagging up dirty ones while out with the baby, etc. And when some people owned a set of diapers, and were expecting another kid about the time the first kid was two, by golly, that first kid was going to be out of diapers when #2 was born. Mom and Dad weren’t buying more diapers. Now that disposables keep kids so dry, kids don’t often know they are wet until the diaper is sagging, and parents aren’t always with their kids during the day, potty training often gets put off until 3 & 1/2, or even 4. At the preschool where I work, we’ve had 4-yr.-olds in diapers, who had no developmental problems. So “potty-trained” doesn’t figure into who is a toddler anymore. To be perfectly honest, though, people who deal with little kids right now don’t use the word “toddler” anymore. They’re “babies” until about 2, then they’re “littles.” The way that people refer to “tweens” & “teens,” as nouns, “littles” and “bigs” are now used to refer to kids. Littles are 2 to kindergarten. (Albeit, some preschools with kindergartens refer to the kindergartners as “bigs.”) Elementary school kids in the numbered grades are “bigs.” Then at double digits, the “tween” years begin. At 13, you are a teenager. Technically, teenager goes all the way to 19, but you are legally an adult in the US at 18 & 19 also. And many people refer to 16 & 17 yr-olds as “young adult,” although to me, that sounds a little old-fashioned. It sounds like the way a grandmother might describe her grandchildren who are being allowed to come visit without their parents. But there are a few things people that age can do (in the US) that younger teens can’t do, so that’s fair. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/36 "2020-03-26T23:09:09Z")
Two ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_Gaurav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Trisha\_Gaurav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_Gaurav)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/37 "2020-03-26T23:17:19Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Two Have you never seen a two-year-old? Two-year-olds are still toddlers. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/38 "2020-03-28T15:12:12Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I agree about the language thing. Once a kid can walk and potty and talk well enough to hold a kiddie conversation. So I’d say 4-5 depending on the kid. I concur, once the child moves out of the “Only mom can understand him, type of talking” and can walk and use the potty, they are not toddlers. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958/39 "2020-03-29T23:54:03Z")
When they stop walking with “high protection” e.g., arms extended to the side… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-is-a-child-no-longer-a-toddler/694958.md?page=1)