• 2 to 3 inches in height and about 5 pounds in weight are added each year.
• Child gradually becomes thinner
• Girls retain somewhat more body fat--boys are slightly more muscular.
• Posture and balance improve, resulting in gains in motor coordination.

• By the end of the preschool years, children start to lose their primary teeth.
• Physical growth is an asynchronous process: different body systems have their own timed patterns of maturation.
• The brain continues to grow, increasing from 70 percent of its adult weight at age 2 to 90 percent by age 6.

• Physical size and rate of growth are related to parents'--genetics
• Growth hormone (GH) affects the development of almost all body tissues, except the central nervous system and the genitals.
• Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) stimulates release of thyroxine- necessary for normal brain development and body growth.

• Preschoolers with very stressful home lives suffer more respiratory and intestinal illnesses as well as unintentional injuries.
• Deprivation dwarfism: caused by emotional deprivation.

Environmental factor that influences growth most strongly: Nutrition

• Preschoolers' appetites decrease because growth has slowed.
• They become picky eaters -- adaptive: they are still learning which items are safe to eate and which are not.
• Because caloric intake is reduced, preschoolers need a high-quality diet.
• Emotional climate at mealtimes has a powerful impact on children's eating habits.

• Insufficient amounts of iron, calcium, vitamin C, and vitamin A are the most common diet deficiencies fo the preschool years.
• By age 7, low-income children in the US are, on the average, about 1 inch shorter than their middle-class counterparts.
• Children are able to regulate their own diets. Individual meals are generally inconsistant, but their daily intake is generally consistant.

• In well-nourished children, ordinary childhood illnesses have no effect on physical growth.
• Illness reduces appetite and limits the body's ability to absorb foods; outcomes are especialy severe for children with intestinal infections.
• Public education programs directed at increasing parental knowledge about the importance of timely immunizations are badly needed.

• Auto accidents, fires, and drownings are the most common injuries during early childhood.
• Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death among children over 1 year of age.
• Factors related to childhood injuries
• Risk-taking -- especially boys
• Irritability, inattentiveness, and negative mood
• Poverty and low parental education are strongly associated with injury deaths.

• Childhood injuries can be reduced through legislation improvement of the physical environment and public education.