SCHOOL YEARS

Growth and development are slow and steady in the early school-age years, in sharp contrast with the rapid changes that occurred during the preschool years and those to follow during adolescence. A school-age child will gain about 7 pounds a year, and his/her height will increase by approximately 2.5 inches a year. The growth of a child’s head also will slow down. This is a time when a child’s brain has almost reached its adult size.

A child’s motor skills also will be refined between the ages of 6 and 12. During this period, running, jumping, and throwing show steady improvement.

During the period of rapid growth toward the end of the school-age years, children suddenly grow at dramatically different rates. School-age girls and boys have distinctly different growth patterns. There is a period during the late school-age years when girls are taller and heavier than boys. By the age of 13.5 years, most boys have grown taller than girls. Girls tend to weight less than boys until almost age 9 and after age 14, but they are heavier than boys between those two ages. Early puberty generally begins at about age 10 in girls and age 12 in boys.

In teenagers the external changes are obvious: body growth taller and heavier, and its shape changes. The bones grow too, even facial bones change. Fat collects on the buttocks and around the abdomen in boys and girls. Boys accumulate mostly lean tissue (muscle and bone), and girls add more fat. The result is that fat makes up 25 percent of the total body weight in girls and between 15 and 20 percent in boys.