Equipping Quality Youth Development Professionals
Improving Child and Youth Program Experiences
by
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Chapter 7: Social Development of 9 -11 Year Olds
DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS
Older children are beginning to build and understand friendships and to learn about themselves through their relationships with others. Friendships begin to be based on interests along with frequency of contact. 8- to 10-year-olds have reciprocal friendships, often called “chumships,” sharing secrets and trusting that they will not be revealed. Loyalty begins to be important. They look up to and imitate older youth.
There is likely to be an interest, especially among girls, in developing and maintaining friendships using online tools.
HOW TO APPLY THIS INFORMATION
Emphasize cooperative activities and rotate leadership tasks. Rather than comparing youth to each other, compare present to past performance of the individual child. With staff guidance, facilitate input from the group about the program. Provide opportunities for youth to learn from and be led by older youth.
Promote acceptance of self and tolerance for differences with others. Teach older children how to resolve conflicts, and bring incidents of aggression or bullying to the attention of supervisors.
SAMPLE ACTIVITIES
1. Complete a neighborhood clean-up activity where older children work together to complete the task.
2. Rotate responsibilities within the group so all children can be seen in a positive, responsible light.
3. Role-play bullying or aggressive scenarios that allow older children to see the perspectives of both the bully and the victim.
4. Role-play a variety of scenarios that show the impact of different peer influences.
5. Set up teen mentors for older children.
6. Educate older children about the safe use of age-appropriate educational and social networking websites.
7. Discuss cyber-bullying issues and Internet safety.
8. Talk about safe texting on cellphones, if older children are using them.
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About the Book
Whether you are a seasonal volunteer, group leader or full-time professional, you need practical advice on how to provide young people with the tools they need to succeed.
Equipping Quality Youth Development Professionals—E-QYP for short—provides best practices to help young people ages six to eighteen reach their potential. It also offers age-appropriate ideas that you can translate to your specific child and youth program.
E-QYP is a handy reference for individuals, as well as a powerful volunteer and staff development tool when adopted by organizations. It also serves as a great supplement to college textbooks on child and youth development. With easy-to-read information and sample activities that really work, this guide can help you help the young people in your life.
“Youth agencies serve huge numbers of kids in the United States, but few youth workers have specific knowledge about youth development, and agency budgets tend to have few dollars for staff training. Although the training and credentialing of all youth workers remains an aspiration, workers with and without training need ready access to research-based knowledge and practices. Equipping Quality Youth Development Professionals provides both. Whether read as a whole or accessed for just-in-time information, Equipping Quality Youth Development Professionals is a timely, valuable, and much-needed resource.”
—Irv Katz, president and CEO, National Human Services Assembly and National Collaboration for Youth
About the Author
William B. Kearney, co-owner of WBKEARNEY & Associates, has dedicated his career to helping young people. He has a master’s degree in public administration from the University at Albany, State University of New York, and has worked in the nonprofit, private, and public sectors. He is married and has three children and seven grandchildren; he lives in Cumming, Georgia.