Ages 6- 12

The Growing Child: School-Age (ages 6-12) 

Children progress at different rates.  They have different interests, abilities, and personalities.  An important part of growing up is learning to interact and socialize with others.  During the school-age years, you’ll see a change in your child.  They will move from playing alone to having multiple friends and social groups.  Friendships become more important.  But your child is still fond of you as parents, and likes being part of a family.  John Hopkins Medicine breaks down the differences at this stage of growth.   

 

Conversations about substance use should be clear, honest, and tied to their everyday experiences so they can relate to them.   They are curious at this age but can understand cause-and-effect and are more aware of what is going on around them.   

 

Additional Resources 

Ask-Listen-Learn: https://asklistenlearn.org/about/  

Responsibility.org, alongside a team of educators and organizations specializing in elementary- and middle schoolers, developed Ask, Listen, Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix. Ask, Listen, Learn is a completely FREE digital underage drinking prevention program for kids ages 9-13 (grades 4-8) and their parents and educators with the goal to reduce underage drinking. The information provided throughout the program guides adults with ways to start communicating with kids about alcohol and the developing brain– and how to continue talking to them as part of a lifetime of conversations. Both science and evidence-based, Ask, Listen, Learn is the most widely distributed underage drinking program of its kind.