In many cultures, the 5-7 age period is believed to mark the beginning of the age of reason (Rogoff et al., 1975). While this statement may sound ridiculous to most of us, it is not completely unfounded. Over the years, multiple studies have demonstrated that middle childhood and adolescence bring numerous physical and psychological changes in a child’s life. It is during these two phases that children start school, form their first meaningful friendships, want to be accepted and liked by those around them and familiarize themselves with the social and cultural structures that characterize the external world. As adults, we must understand how these changes affect children’s behavior so as to be able to support them in an adequate manner. Let us start by analyzing the social and psychological changes that children undergo during middle childhood.
Children aged between 6 and 12 belong an age group that is commonly defined as middle childhood. Kandice & Ford-Jones (2012) pointed out that while researchers tend to focus on early childhood and adolescence, middle childhood is an extremely important and dynamic phase. During this period, a process called synaptic pruning rids the child’s brain of wasteful neural connections, thus making it more sophisticated, efficient and refined. Environmental factors can either hinder or facilitate this process, which is why it is crucial that parents and educators should expose children to nurturing and positive experiences. During this phase, family dynamics tend to have a profound impact on children’s cognitive and psychological development, to the extent that research has highlighted a strong correlation between disruptive transitions and antisocial behavior.
For instance, transitions to both single and social-parent families have been found to trigger a variety of behavior problems, as well as substantial decreases in reading achievement (Magnuson & Berger, 2009). One’s chosen parenting style can also have a profound impact on a child’s psychological development: while coercive and authoritarian parenting styles based on violence (whether psychological or physical) and threat are usually ineffective in shaping children’s personality and behavior in a positive manner, inductive parenting styles based on understanding and reasoning are more likely to bring long-lasting benefits. Shared and non-shared environmental factors have also been found to affect children’s development in a significant way. Many adults fail to understand that children born to and raised by the same parents are subject to a number of shared and non-shared influences that are bound to result in different personalities and experiences. For example, while all siblings share certain environmental factors – e.g. their parents’ socioeconomic status, the kind of neighborhood where their family lives and the number of DVDs and books available at home – they also tend to experience a number of non-shared environmental features, e.g. different parenting styles, different teachers, different friends and so forth.
Interestingly, while the impact of the shared environment on children’s cognitive development gradually decreases during middle childhood and adolescence, the psychological effects of the non-shared environment are significant throughout the individual’s life span. From an ethical standpoint, middle childhood coincides with the third and fourth of moral development, which is when children internalize their parents’ values as their own and start noticing that their actions always lead to consequences. During the 7-9 age period, children realize that their parents and educators are not infallible and start challenging their values.
By the time children enter the “adolescence” stage (which refers to the 13-19 age period), their social world has grown significantly and their self-concept depends greatly on how they interact with those around them. During this period, you may expect your children to undergo a number of changes, including wanting to spend less time with their family, demanding more freedom and independence, seeking new experiences, exploring their sexual identity, spending more time with their friends and allowing their peers to influence their decisions, showing unusually strong emotions, becoming more self-conscious about their looks, doing things without considering the consequences of their actions and developing their own opinions, which may differ from yours. Being adolescence a very delicate stage in an individual’s development process, it is crucial that parents and educators should learn how to interact with adolescents in such a way to guide them and support them without having to resort to coercive or authoritative means. During this phase, peers play a key role in shaping adolescents’ behavior: peers may motivate one another to develop new skills and act responsible, or encourage one another to skip school and engage in potentially dangerous behavior. Adolescents’ need to fit in often causes them to give up to peer pressure, which is why you, as adults, must ensure that your children and students are surrounded by the right people. From an ethical standpoint, middle childhood and adolescence coincide with the third, fourth and fifth stages of moral development. From an ethical perspective, adolescence coincides with the fifth stage of moral development. During this stage, peers are more important than adults to the child’s moral development and teenagers start trying different value systems to determine which one is best.
There are many ways in which parents and educators can support children’s emotional and social development during middle childhood and adolescence.
Be a role model by forming and maintaining healthy, positive relationships with those around you. Remember that children spend a considerable amount of time observing your behavior.
As a parent, make sure to befriend your child’s friends and welcome them in your home.
Provide gentle and balanced suggestions instead of giving orders.
Use positive reinforcement to encourage proper behavior. When your children or students achieve a pre-set goal or exceed your expectations, make sure to reward them adequately.
When imposing restrictions, explain the reasons behind your decision and try to get your child to understand how said restrictions are meant to benefit him / her.
Prompt your child to share his / her feelings, thoughts, questions and experiences with you. Be open about your own feelings in order to prompt your child to talk about what is going on in his / her life.
When children complain about their physical appearance, get them to focus on the positive aspects of their emotional and social growth. For example, tell them that they are excellent listeners, good friends, talented students and smart observers. This will boost their self-esteem and bring them closer to you.
