Middle childhood parenting. Do's and don'ts

​Latency is a time of separating from parents and entering the community, developing peer relationships, acquiring formal learning and becoming a member of the culture. All of these positive developmental steps are not only important in their own right, but are also essential in creating a solid foundation, a reservoir of strength to help weather the psychological upheaval of adolescence which lies just ahead. Parental involvement in the lives of their elementary-aged children will provide an element of stability which will help weather the storminess of adolescence.

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Parental Do’s and Don’ts

• Do enjoy this most wonderful, relatively carefree developmental stage of childhood.
• Do participate actively in your child’s life. Be a coach, Girl Scout or Boy Scout leader, or classroom mom. Identification with parents is a major stabilizing factor.
• Do consistently convey a clear sense of right and wrong in a gentle, non-critical manner.
• Do facilitate peer relationships by encouraging participation in athletics, clubs and sleep-overs.
• Don’t allow your child to be taught, supervised or coached by adults whom you do not know well personally or by reputation.
• Do organize regular study time after school or in the evening.
• Don’t do your child’s homework for them, but be available to assist when asked.
• Do introduce your child to cultural activities of all kinds.
• Don’t organize every minute of your child’s free time. Children need time for unstructured, free play.

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