Is the development of an 8 year old child appropriate?

As they get older, children who enter the age of 8 also experience new stages of development. However, as a parent you may also be wondering whether your child has developed based on their age or not. For that, consider the explanation of the various growth and development of children aged 8 years in the following article.

Various aspects of the development of an 8 year old child

There are several stages that a child will go through when he enters the age of 8 as part of the development of a 6-9 year old child.

The development of children aged 8 years experienced by children includes physical, cognitive, psychological, and speech and language aspects.

Physical development of children aged 8 years

Physical development of children aged 8 years is not much different from the development experienced at 6-7 years of age.

By the age of 8 years, the child's height has increased by 5–7 centimeters (cm). In addition, children also experience weight gain of up to 1-3 kilograms (kg).

The physical development that a child experiences at 8 years of age also includes:

Children can begin to bathe and dress themselves without the help of parents.
Baby teeth begin to fall out and become permanent teeth at this age.
More specific physical abilities appear, such as jumping, chasing, and many more.
Able to control muscle strength.
Fine motor skills of children have developed much better.
Starting to be able to write along the lines and can cut various unusual shapes.

At the age of 8 years, children also begin to realize whether they like to do physical activities or prefer to avoid physical activity that is too tiring.

However, you also have to be prepared for signs of lack of self-confidence that your child may have because of his physical shape.

In order to support the physical development of children, as parents, you need to emphasize to children that health is more important than body shape.

This may help the child look at his body more positively. Don't forget to support children in physical activities outside the home.

At this age, children may start to enjoy doing activities outside the home with their peers.

Even so, the activities carried out by children outside the home must still be under your supervision.

Cognitive development of children aged 8 years

Cognitive abilities are closely related to the knowledge that is owned and the ability to think logically.

Entering the age of 8 years, make sure that your child is experiencing cognitive development that is appropriate for his age.

Generally, at the age of 8 this child will experience the following cognitive developments:

Start understanding about money conceptually as well as when looking at the amount of money firsthand.
Can already understand the concept of time.
Able to count, for example only counting even numbers, or only counting odd numbers and so on.
Can do simple addition or subtraction.
Can distinguish left and right well.
Have your own perspective on something, whether it's good, bad, right, or wrong.
Children's ability to solve problems is increasing.
Children's memory of various things is increasing, both in the short and long term.
The child's ability to concentrate is increasing.
Better understand and appreciate the thought patterns and opinions of others.
Already able to make plans and actually carry out the plans made by him.

Even so, you still need to be careful and supervise 8 year olds who are still developing.

This is because at the age of 8, the development of children in terms of thinking is often still influenced by their feelings and emotions.

Your child may not be able to really focus on something if he is worried about it. In fact, your little one can't think clearly when he is angry.

Psychological development (social and emotional) of children aged 8 years

The psychological development of children aged 8 years usually goes hand in hand with physical development.

Generally, children aged 8 years will experience emotional and social development in the form of:

Feeling self-acceptance by peers is very important.
Learn to adapt and cooperate, and it's easier to share with friends.
Begins to feel relaxed when it comes to playing with friends of the opposite sex.
Boys tend to like to play teams and compete in games.
Try different things and find out what's wrong and what's right.
Likes to be alone and maintains more privacy.
Often parents want to be given affection through direct touch when they feel stressed, but other times they don't like being touched.
Starting to be able to hold back even when feeling frustrated or disappointed with a condition.
Learn to understand other people's feelings and be able to empathize with them.
Start doing nice things for others, such as providing support, doing good deeds, and sharing more.
Feeling that a rule must be followed precisely so that when someone else doesn't do it, the child may scold that person.

In addition, at the age of 8 years, children's psychological development is also shown by the child's ability to communicate with peers.

Usually, children will make many new friends at this age. Of course this is one of the crucial factors that will build children's social skills later.

In addition, children aged 8 years usually begin to identify themselves through friendships, family, hobbies, and abilities.

At the age of 8 this year, children also begin to often feel insecure as a form of growth and development, even though this feeling only happens occasionally.

Therefore, as a parent, you need to support the psychological development of children aged 8 years.

If you want to give compliments, compliment them in an appropriate manner. Don't let your child misinterpret the praise you are giving.

Age 8 years is an age where children are still figuring out what is wrong and what is right.

So don't be surprised if your child often asks you many questions.

You are also expected to provide answers that are true to the child's capacity to think.

Help your child not to fall into stereotypes.

8 year old language development

Even though he is classified as school age, an 8 year old child is still experiencing development in his speaking and language skills. Some of the developments that should be achieved by children this age include:

Spell even better.
Can follow more orders than when he was 7 years old.
Children's reading skills are increasing, so that children are now reading to find out the content of the reading.
Begin to learn that there are certain words that have more than one meaning.
Children's speaking ability increases with correct grammar.
Still learning to write well according to grammar.
The vocabulary of children is increasing, even children may have a new vocabulary of up to 20,000 words in one year.

Launching from Mott Children's Hospital, books are usually one of the interesting things during the development period of an 8 year old child.

Tips for parents to help child development

There are several things you may need to do as a parent to support the development of an 8 year old child.

Try to invite children to discuss like friends on various topics.

The topic, for example, relates to the pressure felt from friends, sex education, or violence.

In addition, also support children who love reading by creating a comfortable atmosphere at home to read books.

One of the easiest things you can do is set an example for your child.

Providing this example can be done by reading a book in front of him so that his reading interest can grow. This can be very good at supporting the cognitive and language development of an 8 year old child.

Help the child to be more enthusiastic in doing physical activities such as swimming, running, or other types of sports for children.

We recommend that you also allow children to exercise and physical activity outside the home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you give your child the freedom to do physical activity for at least one hour each day.

In addition, you also need to encourage children's self-confidence by telling them what their strengths are.

Sometimes, children are too pessimistic so they can't realize their strengths.

You can also help children overcome or get around their weaknesses.