ABSTRACT
The toddler has evolved into a preschooler, and now the preschooler is an elementary school child, involved with learning, with the world outside the immediate family, and engrossed in school, social activities, and friends. In the “average expectable environment,” when all goes well, the child is exuberant about life’s possibilities and excitements. Talking to friends on the phone or sending e-mails, or planning for a party are great events. A tenyear-old girl shares two e-mails with us:
She decided to participate in this group spelling bee and reported the results:
Middle childhood (ages six to twelve) is a time “when most of all the child develops (or fails to develop) mastery of his environment” (Rutter, 1975, p. 86). In addition to the child’s increased involvement in the outside world, there is an integration of intellectual and psychological capacities. Erikson (1963) refers to this stage as “industry vs. inferiority”; the child is ready for the “‘entrance into life’, except that life must first be school life, whether school is field or jungle or classroom” (p. 255). The child learns to master skills, and if unable to do this, will develop a sense of inferiority. In our country, the world of the latency-aged child centers around school, which “seems to be a culture all by itself, with its own goals and limits, its achievements and disappointment[s]” (p. 256).
