10 years - 10 years 11 months

1. Describe your child’s academic skills between ages 6 and 10 and assess how well these skills are developing. The 5th grade report card will be useful for this but you should also incorporate your own observations. What are you doing to help your child?
Since the age of 6 Peyton has been very interested in reading and writing and does very well in that area. Ever since she was little I made sure that I talked to Peyton about everything even when she was a baby; I wanted her to have a good vocabulary and be able to be sociable. I think because of that she is sociable and does very well with reading and talking to people. When she started school she learned and gained more interests in science, because of this interest I enrolled her in some science camps and I think that has been very beneficial to her. Peyton has always been good with math but she never excelled in it, but the report said that she’s at the appropriate grade level. Actually in my surprise Peyton is at grade level for music, I remember when she was in kindergarten she had no musical abilities at all, but I wanted to work with her on that so I enrolled her in some things that got her up to scale on this particular subject.

2. How well is your child adapting to social situations in the home and outside the home? Does your child have any behavior or emotional problems at this point? Why do you think these problems are occurring and what are you doing about them?
I think that Peyton has two different behaviors when it comes to school and home. At home she cooperates really well and only needs a little discipline when it comes to cleaning up or if she just doesn’t want to do something. In her report card it said that she gets upset in stressful situations but it only lasts a short while. I don’t necessarily see that behavior in her around the house. The only emotional behavior that I’m seeing is the stress thing, I have a feeling that that behavior could be because my partner and I have had some problems and have been arguing a lot more, so that could have an effect on how she’s behaving. That’s the only thing that I can think of that could cause that behavior.

3. Has your parenting changed since the preschool period and if so, why do you think it has changed and what effect might this have on your child? Refer to your textbook or lecture notes for evidence on typical changes in parenting that occur in middle childhood.
To be honest, I think I have stayed very consistent with how I parent. I try and stay that way to make sure she knows that she’s in a stable and sturdy environment. The only thing that I can think that I changed is that I’m a little tougher on her now than I was when she was in preschool. I believe that if you stay consistent then you’re kids won’t test you as much because they already know what you are going to do if they do a certain thing.