Social Development in Middle Childhood

By Group Member #4

From birth to the age of 8 a child’s primary source of social context comes from family, specifically their caregivers. By the middle to late childhood ages (5-11) a child’s source of social context will expand from their family to their peers.

Expected Social Development in Children

(Five to Eleven years of age)

At age 5 your child will experience a major social transition. They will experience a larger social system beyond family, they will attend school! Their daily interactions will slowly change from being primarily with family to being primarily with their peers. With the introduction of school, occasional interactions with peers from the park will transition into daily interactions with peers from school. In fact, their peer interactions increase from 10 percent at 2 years old to above 30 percent by middle childhood (Santrock, 2021).

During this time a child’s view of the world shifts from inward to outward. Your child will realize they’re distinct from other children, what they experience is not what everyone else experiences, what they feel is not everyone’s collective feelings. With this realization and understanding of the distinction of others, your child will want to perform actions that will consider the feelings of others. After this realization expect your child to develop in several areas. Afterall, in order to consider others’ feelings, a child will develop intelligence, insight, communication, empathy, morality and more (Mah & Ford-Jones, 2012).

At this time period, friendships become important. With the introduction of a larger social system and expansion in peer groups, your child will pay more attention to friendships and teamwork. Behaviorally, your child will exhibit the desire to be liked and accepted by friends. Eventually by late childhood, they will have developed stronger and more complex friendships and peer relationships (CDC, 2021).

How to support your child’s social development

What’s beneficial for optimal social development is expanding your child’s source of social information. With parents and family being the primary source of information during early childhood, sources of information in middle and late childhood should include parents, family, and the addition of peers. In simple terms this means it’s crucial that your child forms friendships with their peers.

So what can you do to support your child’s social development?

The two most important things you can do is provide:

• Guidance - Model health social relationships

• Communication - Stay connected with your child

If you are unsure how to go about effectively communicating social topics, SCAN, a North Virginian organization that focuses on the prevention of child abuse and neglect, advices parents to:

• Talk with your child about social relationships and values by asking them about school and friends every day (SCAN, 2021).

• Allow children the opportunity to discuss social conflicts and problem-solve their reactions/actions (SCAN, 2021).

• Discuss the subject of bullying and harassment, both in person and on the Internet (SCAN, 2021).

• Allow older children to work out everyday problems on their own (SCAN, 2021).

• Keep the lines of communication open—as a parent, you want to make yourself available to listen and support your child in non-judgmental ways (SCAN, 2021).

Does the S.P.A.R.K.S. Program promote social development?

Generally, the common services that the S.P.A.R.K.S. program provides [Classroom visitations and School assemblies] involve social interactions only between the S.P.A.R.K.S. team and the children, not among their peers. In these services the S.P.A.R.K.S. program does not promote adequate social development. However, the S.P.A.R.K.S. program also provides a lesser-known service, application-based scholarships. Children who are approved into these scholarships will have a better supported social development.

The S.P.A.R.K.S. program provides two different scholarships that support social development, the summer science camp scholarship and the After-school club scholarship. By being a part of one of these scholarships, your child will be able to not only interact with their peers, but be able to create friendships among peers who are likely to promote academic discussion and success.

Upcoming Social Revisions

The S.P.A.R.K.S. program will be making revisions to promote interactions among peers. These revisions will make certain the S.P.A.R.K.S. Program stimulates social development not only for children in the scholarship programs, but also for the children who only experience the team’s brief visitation.

Currently, the revision will be implemented in the classroom visitation service only.

• The current classroom visitation program consists of an hour long program of science lessons including hands-on solo experiments.

• The new classroom visitation program, that also supports social development, would consist of an hour-long program of science lessons including hands-on solo and group experiments.

How does this revision promote Social Development?

With a Classroom Visitation program that involves at least one group experiment, it promotes peer interaction, develops cooperative skills and learning, and promotes academic discussion for deeper understanding of the material.

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Citations

CDC. (2021, February 22). Child Development - Middle childhood (6-8 years old). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/middle.html.

Mah, V. K., & Ford-Jones, E. L. (2012, February). Spotlight on middle childhood: Rejuvenating the 'forgotten years'. Pediatrics & child health. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3299351/.

Santrock, John W. Children. Available from: Yuzu, (15th Edition). McGraw-Hill Higher Education (US), 2021.

SCAN. (2021, April 5). Social Development in children. SCAN of Northern Virginia. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.scanva.org/parent-resource-post/social-development-in-children/.