School age
As a child completes Pre school and attends Elementary and then middle School, there will be certain behavioral changes. It is the time the child becomes increasingly interested in his or her peers. With the natural broadening of psychosocial and cognitive abilities, the child’s social world expands to include more people and settings beyond the home environment. The Parent child relation continues to remain the most important influence in the child’s development.
Entering school years, a child has to devote time to academics and extracurricular activities. A 6-year-old should be able to focus on a task for at least 15 minutes. By the age of 9 the child should be able to increase focus of attention to 1 hour.
It is important for a child to deal with failure and frustration without losing self-esteem. Learning disabilities, mental health issues such as anxiety and depression and the stress of being bullied can hamper the child’s self esteem and lead to failure in school years. It is very important for the parents to observe the child’s mental health during this period.
With academics come other activities which widen the social horizon of the school going child as he or she will meet and communicate with new people and peer groups. Engaging in playing outside the classroom and home like parks and backyards, participating in sports like football, swimming, athletics or any other sport will boost the child’s physical and mental development and improve his or her basic health. Pursuing arts and music / musical instruments will improve concentration and also bring out the latent talents in the child.
It is extremely important for either parent to communicate with the child to find out if the child is going through any emotional problem related to bullying, abuse, peer acceptance and taking necessary actions and providing support to the child. Keeping close communication with the teachers, other school employees and parents of the child’s friends will make the parent aware of possible problems. Parents have to encourage their child to express themselves openly and talk about their fears and problems without fear of punishment.
Children today are exposed through social media and peers to many issues dealing with violence, sexuality and substance abuse. It is the job of parents to control and monitor the child’s exposure to such contents and discuss these issues openly and guide the child accordingly.
School age is a time for many kids to develop negative traits like lying, cheating, become stubborn and throw tantrums. Proper guidance and counselling by parents and by psychologists (in acute cases) will help solve these problems.
It is the duty of parents and teachers to make school life the most enjoyable and memorable time in a child’s life. A happy, safe and secured school life will lead to a happy adolescence and help the child to sail smoothly through the journey of growing up.
References
- jrank.org - Parent Child relationships
- mountsinai.org - School age children