Middle and Late Childhood

WHAT DRIVES THEM

WHAT

DRIVES US

They are constantly doing, planning, playing, getting together with friends, and achieving.

IMPACT

This is a very active time, and a time when they are gaining a sense of how they measure up when compared with peers.

IMPACT

Social development

1

Social-emotional development includes the child's experience, expression, and management of emotions and the ability to establish positive and rewarding relationships with others (Cohen and others 2005).

Cognitive skills continue to expand in middle and late childhood as thought processes become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete information. Children at this age understand concepts such as past, present, and future, giving them the ability to plan and work toward goals.

Cognitive/Perceptual Development

2

One feature of concrete operational thought is the understanding that objects have an identity or qualities that do not change even if the object is altered in some way. For instance, mass of an object does not change by rearranging it. A piece of chalk is still chalk even when the piece is broken in two. You should recall that this was lacking during the preoperational stage ("lacking conservation").

Personality Development

3

Most boys and girls in middle childhood develop a positive sense of self‐understanding, self‐definition, and self‐control, especially when their parents, teachers, and friends demonstrate regard for and emotionally support them, and when children themselves feel competent.

TIMELINE

Biological

development

Rates of growth generally slow during these years. Typically, a child will gain about 5-7 pounds a year and grow about 2-3 inches per year. They also tend to slim down and gain muscle strength and lung capacity making it possible to engage in strenuous physical activity for long periods of time.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS

Sleep is an important need across all periods of the lifespan. Children in the middle age, 6-12, need sleep just as much as anything else. Poor sleep habits can lead to several health problems, such as obesity. Studies suggest children should be getting 9 to 11 hours of sleep at this age. Parents can help provide this by sticking to schedules and having strict bedtimes. Also important at this time is having a healthy diet. Children who get more nutrients will benefit emotionally and functionally. All the physiological needs at this age are important and children should be learning how to maintain these needs themselves. This picture shows a girl that is sleeping during school hours. Most likely this girl is not on a sleeping schedule at home and/or is not getting other physiological needs met, such as nutrients.

SAFETY NEEDS

Filling middle age children's safety needs is a societal effort. The majority of people in society will take action to provide a safe environment for children. Ideally, all parents would provide the safety needs for their children. There are parents that fail to do this. Some parents do not provide a safe shelter, and some parents even abuse their children. Society attempts to help these children through education. Organizations and government agencies educate children, and the general public, about child abuse. These places raise awareness about symptoms and signs of child abuse. They encourage the public and the children to report suspected cases of abuse or neglect. The image is part of a campaign by one of these organizations encouraging people to report abuse. This is just one way society attempts to fill the safety needs of children.

BELONGING AND LOVE NEEDS

Family is an important aspect of middle age children's lives. While the "nuclear family" model is on the decline, this does not lower the importance for children to feel a family bond. It is important that parents and children start a period of co-regulation during middle childhood. Parents will lay broad guidelines that will instruct the child on how they are expected to behave. Children are then left to control their behavior which will help them start meeting more needs without assistance from others. This image is of a family bonding over a card game. Many parents find it useful to set special time aside for "family time". This shows the children the importance of loving relationships with family and meet some of the needs for belonging and love.

ESTEEM NEEDS

Towards the end of this period, children around the age of twelve, are starting to really explore esteem and their needs. At 12, most children want to be respected by others. Some children are searching for ways to respect themselves at this point as well. This is the age where children are starting to notice things about themselves. They start to devise ways to improve aspects of their self esteem. In this picture, a 12 year old named Nat