Caring for Your School Age Child: Ages 5 to 12 - Edward L. Schor - Hardcover - REV

Promoting Health and Normal Development: Physical Development Through Puberty Most parents believe that their youngster's childhood passes much too quickly. Only yesterday, it seemed, you sang lullabies over your child's crib, or watched her crawl for the first time or take her first steps. Now she is bigger, more coordinated, more independent--and moving toward the much more dramatic changes of puberty that lie ahead. The steady physical development that occurred during the preschool years will continue during middle childhood, although it will not proceed at nearly as rapid a rate as the growth that will follow in adolescence. The present changes tend to be more gradual and steady, all part of the evolution toward adulthood. Most children have a slimmer appearance during middle childhood than they did during the preschool years, due to shifts in the accumulation and location of body fat. As a youngster's entire body size increases, the amount of body fat stays relatively stable, giving her a thinner look. Also, during this stage of life a child's legs are longer in proportion to her body than they were before. On average, the steady growth of middle childhood results in an increase in height of a little over 2 inches a year in both boys and girls. Weight gain averages about 6.5 pounds a year. But these are only averages. A number of factors, including how close the child is to puberty, will determine when and how much your child grows. In general, there tends to be a period of a slightly increased growth rate between ages 6 and 8 years, which may be accompanied by the appearance of a small amount of pubic hair. Perhaps more than any other factor, your youngster's pattern of growth and ultimate height will be influenced by heredity. Your son, for example, may want to be one of the tallest boys in his class, and he may aspire to play professional basketball. However, if both you and your spouse have below-average stature, his height as an adult will be more like yours than like his favorite sports idol's. While there are exceptions, tall parents usually have tall children, and short parents usually have short children. Those are the realities of genetics. Even so, if your child seems unusually short or tall relative to her friends of the same age, talk with your pediatrician. The doctor may recommend X-rays to determine your child's bone growth. A true growth disorder can sometimes be treated by administering growth hormones; however, this therapy is reserved for youngsters whose own glands cannot produce this hormone, thus interfering with normal growth. Physicians do not recommend this treatment for healthy boys and girls who may want (or whose parents may want them) to grow to be 6 feet tall instead of 5 feet 8. Just as height can vary from youngster to youngster, so can the timing of a child's growth. Despite the averages mentioned above, many youngsters in middle childhood often experience clear growth spurts, followed by periods in which they grow very little. Some children grow as much as three times faster during a particular season of the year, compared with their "slow" seasons. These individual variations in timing--along with hereditary factors--are largely responsible for the wide variations in size among youngsters of the same age. Height differences among children in a typical elementary school classroom range from 4 to 5 inches. A number of other factors--so-called environmental influences--can affect physical development as well. Nutrition is important to normal growth processes, and thus you should make an effort to ensure that your child consumes a well-balanced diet. Your youngster's need for calories rises during times of rapid growth, gradually increasing as she moves through middle childhood into puberty. However, if the calories consumed exceed those expended, your child may develop a weight problem. (See Chapter 6, "Special DSchor, Edward L. is the author of 'Caring for Your School Age Child: Ages 5 to 12 - Edward L. Schor - Hardcover - REV' with ISBN 9780553801248 and ISBN 0553801244.