Support for the development of school-age children

This period is sometimes called the "good child" phase. During this time, children enjoy being with adults, engaging in "adult" activities, accompanying them in their hobbies (playing sports, playing games together), or helping them with work (cooking, working in the workshop). Enjoy this precious phase!

Zdeněk Matějček divided the school-age period into three stages:

• Younger school age: approximately 6 to 8 years

• Middle school age: approximately 9 to 12 years

• Older school age: overlaps with puberty

Younger school age (6-8 years)

The younger school age is considered a transitional period between the playful preschool years and the more mature behavior of a schoolchild. A young first-grader typically starts school with great enthusiasm for learning and acquiring new knowledge. At this stage, children do not need much external motivation to learn. They ask questions ("Why?"), explore new things, and see new school tasks as challenges. Their internal motivation to learn comes naturally and does not require external rewards or punishments. This motivation is driven by three main factors: curiosity, accepting problems as challenges, and a desire for greater control over the environment or greater competence.

Children in younger school age are still playful and can only concentrate on one task for a short period — usually about 10 minutes at the beginning of school. This is important to remember when working on homework with them at home. It is essential to frequently change activities and allow for short (ideally physical) breaks. Even in first grade, activities change frequently during lessons because it would be impossible for children to sit quietly and focus on one thing for 45 minutes. If learning sessions are too long, young students may start to get up, walk around, talk, or eat — behaviors they were used to before starting school.

Teachers not only have to teach their students to read and write but also to follow certain rules, adapt to others, and develop work habits.

Tip: When doing homework with your first-grader, take a short break after about 10 minutes. It can be as simple as getting a drink of water or chatting briefly about something unrelated.

The personality of the first-grade teacher is crucial, as they form a general model of the "teacher figure" in the child's mind. It’s a great advantage if the child has a positive relationship with their first teacher. However, if this relationship is not successful, parents must support the child in dealing with the challenges of interacting with a teacher who is not always kind or understanding.

The most important thing is to have a variety of activities and change them frequently. Children at this age do not have strong willpower, and their physical fatigue is closely linked to their mental fatigue, and vice versa. Frequent changes in activity can help prevent this. Children begin to gain strength and develop speed, agility, and reflexes.

It’s a great time to introduce children to sports. Sports should be enjoyable for the child, providing joy from movement, ideally in the fresh air, while fostering positive relationships with peers and promoting fair play.

Sports activities should develop the child's body comprehensively and not place one-sided strain on it. For children aged 7 to 12, sports should primarily focus on agility and endurance. A good sport not only supports the natural development of all parts of the musculoskeletal system but also fosters desirable competitiveness, a sense of belonging with teammates, and respect for opponents.

Studies have shown that physical strength and agility play a significant role in a child's position in a group — often influencing admiration, popularity, and leadership roles. Smaller or weaker boys are more likely to become loners, and some neurotic symptoms or behavioral problems can stem from this. Other children manage to compensate for their shortcomings in different ways — excelling in schoolwork or other activities, such as music.

Children at this age still love fairy tales. Take advantage of this interest to motivate them to learn to read. Reading is essential for children to expand their vocabulary, learn to express themselves, become familiar with grammar rules, understand texts, extract essential information, remember it, and work with it — all while gaining general knowledge.

Do you think that explaining these reasons to a child would be enough to motivate them to read? Probably not. But if they experience reading as fun, joyful, adventurous, and relaxing, they will be drawn to it naturally. This experience can't be explained — it has to be felt.

Try reading together. At first, you can read aloud while pointing to the words with your finger so the child can "passively read" along with you. Later, you can take turns reading sentences, paragraphs, or pages. After reading, discuss the story with your child — ask them what happened, how they would have done things differently, and more. In other words, enjoy it together.

The quality of a child’s language depends significantly on opportunities to talk with parents, siblings, classmates, and teachers at school. Reading also helps expand vocabulary and improve expressive skills.

At this age, children also enjoy encyclopedic books that offer clearly explained, well-organized, and illustrated information. These books help children see connections between different aspects of life and the world around them.

This age is also known for collecting hobbies, as collections provide orientation points regarding the surrounding world. Children collect things that relate to their interests (castles, prehistoric animals, football player stickers, etc.). It's good to give children space for this kind of independent, creative activity.

Children also show a tendency to organize their environment, not only in their collections but also in group activities. They want everything to be "the way it should be," and anything "different" bothers them more than at later stages of development. This "different" can refer to a classmate with glasses, a speech impairment, a child from a different ethnic background, or even a child who is exceptionally smart. Children at this age can be particularly cruel, excluding anyone who is "different" from their group. This is where family upbringing, as well as the influence of teachers and institutions, plays a vital role in shaping children’s social attitudes.

Children’s imagination and creativity can be enhanced through creative activities. A younger schoolchild can work with a variety of materials and enjoys artistic activities. Encourage creative projects with simple, inexpensive materials (stones, buttons, bark, fabric scraps). Role-playing games also foster creativity, such as building a snow igloo, playing with puppets, or creating "homes" in the garden.

Children love activities that encourage thinking and creativity, such as chess, board games like Monopoly, and even some video games.

At this age, boys and girls still play together without any awkwardness. However, this is also the stage when socialization toward "masculine and feminine skills" peaks. Girls tend to take on more "female" household tasks and enjoy helping their mothers with these activities. Boys, on the other hand, lean toward helping their fathers with traditional "male" chores (like chopping wood). This is reflected in their drawings and in their dreams of future careers. If you ask them what they want to be when they grow up, boys often say a police officer, firefighter, or NHL hockey player (all professions linked with power, physical strength, and success). Girls, on the other hand, choose professions that have a social, caregiving, or communicative aspect.

Like every transitional period, this phase is marked by increased emotional swings and vulnerability. Therefore, children require more patience and support from parents and teachers. Children at this age tire more easily. It's essential to give them some downtime when they return from school. However, don't leave homework until the evening. For better sleep, it's ideal for children to finish all their duties before dinner so they can have a calm and relaxing evening.

Middle school age, 9-12 years

The middle school age, from 9 to 12 years old, is a more stable and defined period. By this point, most children have adapted well to school. Their focus shifts toward real-life situations, although it is still somewhat influenced by heroic fantasies. At this age, children begin to pay more attention to relationships between people — within their family, neighborhood, and elsewhere. The influence of the peer group increases significantly, and children strive to conform to the group's norms, even if these norms sometimes conflict with family values.

Children's desire to understand the world around them is reflected in their interest in documenting events in diaries. They become excellent observers, able to focus their attention on specific details and record them. Next time there is a bird-watching event, take your child to a park (or garden) and try counting the birds together.

The start of school significantly affects the quality of the language they use. Children are exposed to various levels of speech production, they must assert themselves in conversations, and they must accurately interpret specific texts (like math problems). It is beneficial to play language games together or simply engage in conversation. Watching TV cannot replace live interaction between people.

During this period, children's peer groups change. Boys and girls no longer play together as freely as before. Boys begin to form friendships with boys, and girls with girls. This is likely an essential process for strengthening behavior typical of one's gender identity. This stage, which lasts until around 12-13 years of age, sees boys behaving in "very boyish" ways — they speak with bravado, act noisily, sometimes use crude language, boast, fight, and engage in heroic stunts (jumping from heights, nighttime adventures, athletic feats). At this stage, talking to "girls" or being friends with them is seen as undesirable. It is even considered a punishment for a boy to be "locked in" a classroom with girls.

Similarly, girls exhibit very "feminine" behaviors. They style their hair, wear prominent accessories, giggle, shriek, gossip, and whisper together. They borrow makeup from their mothers and start experimenting with it. When they are in groups, they often act boldly and sometimes "flirt" with teachers to test their femininity.

Friendship changes significantly at this stage. Girls often form deep, close friendships with one other girl. They confide in each other, discuss everything together, take walks, decide what to wear to school, visit each other's homes for sleepovers, and have "heart-to-heart" conversations late into the night. Interestingly, these friendships tend to form as pairs. If a third girl joins, the "best friend" dynamic often shifts, and a new duo forms.

Boys, on the other hand, tend to form groups of 3-4 friends. They gather for a specific purpose, such as playing ball, riding bikes, or trying something "forbidden."

Over the course of their schooling, most children's motivation to learn decreases, and by the higher grades, teachers may be surprised by the students' apparent disinterest in lessons. Curiosity remains in only a few exceptional children or in areas where the child has a specific interest. But how can this be? Research shows that offering external rewards (like school grades) tends to reduce intrinsic motivation for learning.

For example, in one experiment, preschool children were introduced to a new art technique. One group of children participated to receive a "diploma" as a reward, while the other children either received no reward or were unexpectedly given a reward afterward. The latter two groups maintained a high interest in the activity later on during free play at preschool. However, interest dropped significantly among the children who had participated solely to receive a diploma.

The middle school age and preadolescence are the optimal periods for establishing habits that promote health and well-being. However, the motivation to adopt these habits often comes not from an understanding of health benefits but from the desire to keep up with peers or assert independence from family authority. This applies to areas like sports, exposure to cold (like cold showers), and dietary habits.

Children are highly susceptible to peer pressure, which carries certain risks. Peer pressure can lead children to engage in negative behaviors, such as bullying or underage drinking. On the other hand, they need peer relationships for their games and social development. In peer groups, children try out different roles and behaviors and observe how others react to them. Contact with children of various ages is also essential, as it teaches them to adapt to different roles — to submit to older children, care for younger ones, and assert themselves among peers.

Around ages 11-12, most children experience a noticeable (but usually temporary) drop in self-esteem. A significant component of self-esteem at this age is the evaluation of their academic success. From the start of their school years, children's self-esteem steadily declines. This happens because, as they grow, they begin comparing themselves more to their peers.

Low self-esteem reduces children's motivation for schoolwork, which in turn negatively affects their academic performance. Therefore, positive self-esteem is crucial for mental well-being. However, self-esteem should be realistic. It should not be so low that a child never believes in themselves, but it also shouldn't be inflated to the point of overconfidence. Children with overly inflated self-esteem may have difficulties interacting with others.

An essential part of healthy self-esteem is the way children perceive the causes of their successes and failures. If success is seen as random or due to luck, self-esteem will be lower. If failure is attributed to internal, unchangeable factors (like a lack of ability), children believe that nothing can be done to change it, leading to low self-esteem.

A realistic, positive self-evaluation means children recognize that their success results from their own abilities and effort. Failure is seen as a chance to learn and grow because mistakes result from causes they can influence (like working harder or setting more achievable goals).

How parents can support healthy self-esteem

The role of parents is vital. Instead of constant praise, parents can help strengthen self-esteem by showing children that success depends on their abilities and effort. Parents should emphasize that mistakes are primarily learning opportunities.

Important tip: Every child should experience success. While one child might excel at math, another might be great at taking care of younger children, plants, or animals. What's crucial is for children to feel that they have some control over their own lives and that they have the power to shape their daily experiences and future.

The peer group also has a significant impact on the development of self-esteem.

Author of the article: PhDr. Marja Volemanová, PhD.

Main sources:

• Černá, Olga (2014). Čtení není žádná nuda. Prague: Portál. ISBN 978-80-262-0720-7

• Edice Dobrá škola (2012). Diagnostika školní zralosti. Prague: Raabe. ISBN 978-80-87553-52-7

• Langmeier, Josef; Krejčířová, Dana (2006). Vývojová psychologie. Prague: Grada. ISBN 978-80-247-1284-0

• Velemínský, Miloš (2017). Dítě od početí do puberty, 1500 otázek a odpovědí. Prague: Triton. ISBN 978-80-7553-148-3

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is specific to the Czech educational system and may not apply to other countries. Educational systems, policies, and practices vary widely around the world, so please consider this context when interpreting the content.