CHAPTER 5: MIDDLE CHILDHOOD:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:
GENERAL PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:
-Rapid growth of the arms and legs (in comparison to the torso).
=Lanky appearance.
-Slower growth rate than preschool and adolescent period
=Gradual growth.
-Height and mass = 6cm and 2kg
-Children are growing faster and bigger (due to better health care and nutrition)
-Body proportions change gradually, and they start to take on a shape similar to an adult.
Brain: Almost adult size and weight.
-The frontal lobes are called “the essence of our humanity” because they are responsible for
judgement, impulse control, planning, reasoning, emotions, memory and problem solving.
-This together with more brain interconnections = children can master more difficult
cognitive tasks (such as performing a series of tasks in a reasonable order).
-Building a self-powered toy.
-The different pieces must be unpacked to see that they’re all there and then the
parts must be connected, and the batteries need to be added.
Respiratory System: Functions more economically and the elasticity of the lungs becomes
deeper.
=Breathing becomes deeper and slower.
-The circulatory system develops at a slower rate.
Permanent Teeth: Replace the milk teeth.
-Malocclusion is common in children.
=Teeth are not aligned properly which creates faulty contact between the upper and
lower teeth when the jaw is closed (difficulty biting and chewing).
-Some children have to wear braces to correct this.
Vision: Up to 20% of children have vision problems.
-Myopia = Most common.
-Nearsightedness
-Could affect school life where children cannot read or see material on the blackboard
or screen.
There may be individualThe above mentioned are based on averages.
differences:
,-The growth rate of girls in comparison to boys changes during middle childhood.
-From approximately 10-11 years old = Girls height and weight increases more rapidly.
-Race, nationality and socio-economic levels may also play a role in individual differences.
-South East Asia, Oceania & South America = Shorter
-North & Central Europe, USA & Eastern Australia = Taller
-Malnutrition & Disease = Shorter
-Sleep also plays a role in development.
-Growth hormone is secreted most intensely during sleep.
-Shortly after the beginning of deep sleep.
-Inadequate sleep = Associated with overweight.
-Disrupts the functioning of hormones that regulate hunger and appetite for
certain fattening foods.
-Inadequate sleep = Affects cognitive processes and school adjustment.
-Inadequate sleep = More susceptible to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.
MOTOR SKILLS:
-Most prominent = The acquisition & refinement of psychomotor skills.
-They develop due to an increase in strength, coordination and muscular control over the body.
-A 10-year-old can throw a ball twice as far as a 6-year-old.
-Balance & elegance of physical movement also increase considerably.
-Children will therefore take part in activities that require the application of motor skills.
-Dance, skip, cycle, kick a ball, skate, swim, run
-Although children this age do not have the same speed, strength or stamina as those older
than them, their coordination, timing and concentration are just as good.
-Gross Motor Activities = Boys develop more rapidly than girls.
-Running, jumping, throwing.
-Boys have more muscular tissue than girls and are therefore stronger.
-Motor skills facilitates the development of various aspects of children’s personality.
-Cognitive = Acquisition of skills such as writing, drawing, painting, etc.
-Social = Participation in induvial & team sports (rugby, netball, soccer)
-Learn to obey rules and to cooperate with others.
-Children who can play a sport well = Usually popular with friends = Higher self-esteem.
SEXUALITY IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD:
-The Society for Obstetricians and Gynecologists (SOGC) explains why children aren’t “sexless”.
,Sigmund Freud = Middle childhood is a period of sexual latency during which children show
little to no interest in sexuality.
-But we now know that the sexual development of children and their interest in
sexuality continue uninterruptedly throughout middle childhood.
-The latency theory could be due to the fact that children in middle childhood tend to be
more “undercover” concerning sexuality in order to meet social expectations.
-Therefore, making sexuality less observable.
-Also, children this age usually choose same-sex peers as friends which could create the
wrong impression that development in their sexuality has stopped.
By the end of middle childhood children usually have a firm and established sense of gender
identity and gender constancy.
-They also understand the concept of gender consistency (they recognise that gender
does not change simply because gender-typed behaviour may change)
-A man who wears a dress is still a man.
-Many children this age will become aware of issues related to sexual orientation.
-They learn that not all people are heterosexual (could learn this through input
from their parents, media, observations, etc.)
-As children try to cement their self-concept (male or female) they often show a strong
preference for gender-typed clothing and behaviours.
Some children this age masturbate occasionally for pleasure.
-This is no cause for concern as long as it is not done excessively and is done in private.
-It’s often self-soothing behaviour (especially in emotionally taxing situations such as
parents divorce)
-Overt sex play is not as noticeable in younger children.
-Because they take care to conceal these games from adults.
-Most children this age have not started puberty, therefore, sex play serves the function
of curiosity and exploration (unlikely to involve adult sexual acts)
-Sex play with the same and opposite gender is common.
-Same gender sex play is not necessarily an indication of sexual orientation
because the play is still routed in curiosity rather than attraction or pleasure.
-There are signs of coercive behaviour and if the child is uncomfortable with the friends
sexual behaviour it could be a sign of sexual bullying.
Children this age do have a basic understanding about how babies are made.
-Learn this from parents, at school, or from the media and peers.
-This does lead to children forming misconceptions about sexuality and reproduction.
, -Therefore, parents need to start sexual education as early as possible.
-Children can therefore obtain the correct information within the parents value
system.
-Waiting for the correct moment could be too late because some children in this
age range do begin to show the first signs of puberty (particularly girls)
-Girls may have their first menstruation.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT:
-Major cognitive advances occur during the ages of 6-12.
-Patterns and habits established at this age with affect experiences in adolescence and
adulthood.
PIAGET’S THEORY - CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE:
-The concrete operational stage spans ages 7-11 and signifies the stage where children start
using mental operations to solve problems and to reason.
-Mental operations: Strategies and rules that make thinking more systematic and more
powerful.
-Could apply to numbers (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)
-Could apply to categories of objects (organizing objects according to shapes, sizes,
colour)
-Could apply to spatial relations among objects (map reading, finding ones way around
an unfamiliar environment)
-Each of these reflects a kind of rule about objects and their relationships.
-School-aged children understand the rule that adding makes something more and that
subtraction makes it less and they also understand that objects may belong to more than one
category at once.
-Piaget thought the most critical operation was reversibility.
-The understanding that both physical actions and mental operations may be reversed.
-Each has an inverse that may undo or reverse the effect of an operation.
Example; You start with 5, add 3, and you get 8.
-But subtract 3 from 8 and you return back to 5 (reversing your steps)
-Reversibility lies behind many of the cognitive gains made during middle childhood.
Example; If a child has mastered reversibility then knowing that A is larger than B also
tell him that B is smaller than A.
