Clinical psychologist and medical doctor at the UPSA clinic, Dr Isaac Newman Arthur has intimated that the most critical years of a child’s development are between ages six and twelve that no parent must gloss over.
Speaking on the maiden edition of Empire Fm’s family discussion programme, Family Talk, he indicated, this is the concrete operational stage of children where they develop their logical reasoning and grow to be independent.
He also highlights it is around this stage that sexual and moral development of children is important. He says as their moral codes develop it breeds an information seeking interest among the child hence they tend to question a lot of things. Dr. Newman Arthur is thus urging parents to endeavour to provide answers for their children or risk losing them to other questionable sources for their driving curiosity that may end up being detrimental to the child;
“Around that time they are hungry for information and they start asking a thousand and one whys, and if you the parent you don’t answer their whys, other people and other things will be their source of information”.
According to Dr. Newman Arthur a lot of the confusion around gender identity stems from this period; “I’ve realised that almost all the lgbtq related things this stage is where they develop, he said almost all the lgbtq persons he has interacted with admit they had certain encounters between the age of 7 and 14”
As such it is at this period that parents are supposed to build friendship bonds with their children; “the most critical time of any child’s development is between the age of six and 12, and if you the parent do not start paying attention to your child, the child doesn’t become your friend you lose them forever, because the next phase which is the adolescent phase between 12 and 19 sees their brain developing rapidly”.
He further urges parents to guide their children on essence of privacy; “that is where the development of their privacy creeps in, so you have to have a conversation with them, so if you are a parent, you should stop bathing with your child after six years , you start teaching them privacy and also give them that respect,” he concluded.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
