Milestones of Middle Childhood Development:

Physical Domain: Adolescent growth spurts begin. Yay for puberty! This occurs about two years earlier for girls than boys. Changes includes getting taller as well as physical and hormonal changes to the body based on sex.

Parents can support children going through these changes by having open discussions about what is going on with their child’s body. It is important for children to know that the changes they are going through are perfectly normal and that it happens at different rates for each individual. When your child starts to grow out of their shoes quickly, it is a good indicator that they are about to shoot up in height and have reached this milestone that is a big growth spurt.

https://www.independentschoolparent.com/lifestyle/understanding-growth-spurts/

Cognitive Domain: Cognitive self-regulation improves. This means that children are starting to better monitor their own progress and correct their behaviors when they are unsuccessful. They have not yet mastered this concept, but it is at this age that students start to look back over their work, reread things they did not understand, or ask questions for clarification.

https://autisable.com/2017/01/15/self-regulation-defined/

Parents can support their children by challenging them at home with problem-solving tasks. It can be anything from helping them pack the car for a trip to having a child help measure ingredients while baking. When doing these activities, parents can ask questions and make suggestions of strategies for the child to use. Children then take the strategies and the problem-solving abilities with them into the classroom. Parents and teachers will know this milestone is reached once students start to check their own progress and have an accurate idea of how well they are doing or not.

Social and Emotional Domain: Friendships become more selective and are rooted in mutual trust. Before this milestone is reached, children are friends with anyone and everyone who will talk to them. Now, children start to choose friends for more than just common interests.

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/meaning-of-friendship

Parents can support their children by encouraging them to be social and make friends. They can also encourage children to think about their friends and to question some of their friendships. The friendships based on trust are those of kindness and compassion. Fitting in becomes more and more important as children grow older, so it is important for children to make meaningful connections with people when they are young. Making friends can be stressful and difficult for some children. Parents need to be supportive and available for their children to talk to about issues with peers. Parents will know that their child has reached this milestone when they see their children start to spend a lot of time with fewer individuals in a much closer way than before.

References:

Berk, L.E. & Meyers, A.B. (2016). Infants and Children: Prenatal through middle childhood (8th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Independent School Parent. (2017, March 28). Understanding Growth Spurts. Retrieved from https://www.independentschoolparent.com/lifestyle/understanding-growth-spurts/.