The Child from Five to Ten

About this book

THE CHILD FROM FIVE TO TEN is a companion to the classic INFANT AND CHILD IN THE CULTURE OF TODAY. It takes the reader through the important and formative years when the child goes to school and truly becomes a candidate for citizenship in a complex civilization. Each year has distinctive behavior characteristics which have been studied in great detail by Dr. Gesell and his associates at the Yale Clinic of Child Development which is now the Gesell Institute of Child Development. With the cooperation of parents and teachers a rich fund of information concerning the personality growth of individual children has been assembled and analyzed. This book is organized into a year-by-year series of psychological portraits with concrete guidance suggestions covering the following areas: motor characteristics; personal hygiene; emotional expression; fears and dreams; self and sex; interpersonal relations; play and pastimes; school life; ethical sense; and philosophical outlook. A special chapter is devoted to each of these subjects. THE CHILD FROM FIVE TO TEN in its first edition and INFANT AND CHILD now revised have been read by many thousands of people who have used the books as a kind of bible in the care and training of young children. They are of value not only to parents but also to teachers and anyone else who shares in the responsibility for the welfare of children. Among the many new topics included here are children and television children of various ages and their relationships with their grandparents and changes in schools. In general five-year-olds still seem to be well-adjusted calm and thoroughly delightful. Sevens are often withdrawn and quite thoughtful but happy. The eight-year-old is expansive speedy and evaluative. Ten is calm collected and appreciative. The ages between remain very much as we saw them in the original edition. The culture however has changed in many ways.