Children's Needs – Parenting Capacity - Digital Education Resource ...

5Child development and parents’responses – middle childhoodChapter 5 focuses on children aged 5 to 10 years. The format is consistent with theyounger age groups. The following developmental dimensions: health; education;emotional and behavioural development; identity; family and social relationships;social presentation; and self-care skills are prefaced by what might be expectedfor this age group, based on research findings. This is followed by the possibleconsequences of living with a parent experiencing mental illness, learning disability,problem substance use and domestic violence. Summary points at the end of thechapter identify the key problems and the protective factors.Children aged 5–10 yearsHealthExpected healthChildren aged 5–10 years should have regular medical and dental examinations,either as part of routine school medical checks or with the family doctor and dentist.These check-ups should ensure that the child’s height and weight are within normallimits, and that problems with hearing and sight, physical dexterity and mobilityare identified and addressed. Although children’s co-ordination is improving, at5 and 6 years they frequently overestimate their ability and injure themselves duringnormal play. Convulsions are rare at this age unless associated with high fevers or arecognised physical condition.During these years boys are more likely than girls to have some form of mentaldisorder; 10% of boys and 5% of girls aged 5 to 10 years were found to have amental disorder in 2004 (Green et al 2005).Some health problems for this age group are on the increase. For example, alarge-scale study of 8- to 9-year-old children found the prevalence of ever havingexperienced asthma rose from 19.9% of children in 1991 to 29.7% in 1999 (NgMan Kwong et al. 2001). Eating disorders have also increased. Obesity amongchildren aged 2 to 10 years rose from 9.9% in 1995 to 13.7% in 2003, and theproportion of children of this age group being overweight rose from 22.7% in 1995to 27.7% in 2003. Obesity and being overweight was greatest for children aged 8to 10 years; 16.5% were found to be obese in 2003 (Jotangia et al. 2006). However,more recent research comparing data from 2006/7 to 2008/9 suggests this upwardtrend in childhood obesity appears to have flattening out (Dinsdale et al 2010).