Health Information
Caring for Your 6 to 8-Year-Old
- Development
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- Grade school is a time when parents have a lot to think about as children spend time away from home. Trying to encourage healthy living, both physically and emotionally, is challenging when you are not always there. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from your school or your pediatric healthcare provider.
- Children this age should be encouraged to develop a sense of responsibility. Allow them to contribute around the house. Assign reasonable chores to your child (tidy the bedroom, dust, set the table), and offer praise when the job is done well.
- Talk with your child about how friends should treat each other. Explain that good friends respect others, follow rules, and help those in need.
- Encourage your child to tell you about his or her day, and be sure he or she knows to tell you if someone is hurting or bullying them at school.
- Your child should spend time reading not only with you, but also on their own.
- You can help your child develop healthy self-esteem by assuring they feel secure, accepted, and loved by others.
- Media and digital devices are a big part of our world today. The benefits of it, if used moderately, can be great. Treat media as you would any other environment for your child. Set limits and make your own family media use plan. For more information refer to How to Make a Family Media Use Plan in healthychildren.org.
- Screen time should not always be alone time. Continue to co-view and interact by playing games and watching videos together. Don’t just monitor your child online. By interacting with them when they use digital media, you can teach and model online kindness and good manners.
- Set aside time to actively play with your child. Daily physical activity, outside of school gym, should occur. The recommendation is one hour of physical exercise daily and there are many ways to encourage this. Sports such as cycling, swimming, basketball, jogging, walking, dancing aerobics, and soccer are not just healthy but fun.
- Nutrition
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- Eat meals together as a family. Be sure that snacks are healthy and limit their amount.
- Always ensure your child eats breakfast.
- Your child should consume a variety of foods from the five major food groups.
- Vegetables: 3 – 5 servings per day. A serving may be 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables, ¾ cup vegetable juice or ½ cup raw or cooked.
- Fruits: 2 – 4 servings per day. A serving may be a ½ cup of sliced fruit, ¾ cup of fruit juice, or a medium-sized whole fruit.
- Bread, cereal, or pasta: 6 – 11 servings per day. A serving could be 1 slice of bread, ½ cup of rice or pasta or 1 ounce of cereal.
- Protein foods: 2 – 3 servings of 2 – 3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish per day.. A serving may also be ½ cup of cooked dry beans, one egg, or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter for each ounce of lean meat.
- Dairy products: 2 – 3 servings per day of 1 cup of low-fat milk (skim or 1%) or yogurt or 1½ ounces of natural cheese.
- Additional information can be found at HealthyChildren.org.
- Ask your pediatric healthcare provider to help you determine whether your child has a healthy percentage of body fat for their age and sex.
- Routines and Discipline
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- The AAP recommends that parents do not use spanking, hitting, slapping, threatening, insulting, humiliating or shaming. If you react to your child by exploding or losing your temper, your child will respond with disobedience and disrespect. By contrast, your child will become more obedient when you remain calm.
- Hug and praise your child for behaving well, being polite and doing well at school.
- Set reasonable and consistent limits and be sure that, when using discipline, the priority is to teach and protect your child, not to punish.
- Predictable routines help your child feel safe.
- A consistent bedtime is important for healthy sleep habits.
- Oral Health
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- Help your child brush his or her teeth twice a day, using a pea-sized amount of toothpaste with fluoride. Daily flossing is encouraged.
- Permanent teeth will start to grow in place of the baby teeth that are falling out. See the dentist every six months for routine checkups.
- If possible, the child should wear a mouth guard during contact sports.
- Safety
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- Never leave your child alone in the house, car or yard. Supervise play near driveways and streets.
- Use sunscreen when playing outdoors.
- Watch your child carefully around water. Swim lessons are encouraged.
- Properly fitted, approved helmets should be worn when riding a bike, skiing, sledding, ice skating, horseback riding, skateboarding and using in-line skates. Parents should set an example and always wear a bike helmet.
- Teach your child about being safe with other adults. No one (outside of trusted caregivers and physicians) should ask to see your child’s “private parts” or ask your child to see theirs. Your child should know not to keep secrets from parents.
- If you have a gun in your home, be sure the ammunition is kept separately from the weapon and that these are both kept safely locked away.
- Teach your child how and when to dial 9-1-1. Make a family emergency plan, for instance, in the event of a house fire. Install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors on every level in your home.
- Children should ride in the back seat of the car in a belt positioning booster seat.
This document contains general parenting information based on American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations and is not meant to replace the expert advice of your pediatrician.