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The Effects of Nature and Nurture in Middle Childhood

In: Social Issues

Submitted By superartie
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“The Effects of Nature and Nurture in Middle Childhood” Middle Childhood is the name given for the age division from 6 to 11 years of a child’s life. They are also known as the “school years.” During this time a child’s health, education, and emotional well being are all undergoing changes. Though not as drastic as the changes they will soon face in adolescence, they are steady, and the impact that nature and nurture will have on these aspects reach far and wide across the many developments they face in their lives. Heath is of the utmost importance in raising a child, and is the biggest factor of a child’s physical development in middle childhood. When a child is receiving the proper nutrition he or she needs, they grow at the expected, normal rate during middle childhood. In families where the SES is lower, the children are more inclined to be fed snacks with high caloric content, than food with fresh ingredients. These eating habits can lead to obesity. The food they eat isn’t the only way in which a child may become obese. At an age where most normal children love engaging in physical activity, and expending energy in exercise, children who sit in front of the TV, are at greater risk of becoming overweight and obese. This has everything to do with the family’s SES and therefore, has to do with nurture, the environment in which they’re raised. One illness that can be linked to obesity is asthma. It is common amongst children raised in poverty-stricken environments, where the household is stressful, and the parents smoke. There are other conditions that can lead to a child becoming asthmatic, such as being near inner city pollution, or having a mother who smoked during her pregnancy. In lower SES families, access to healthcare may not be available so the condition is likely to go untreated. With conditions like asthma, there are many

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