Stages of Development and Risk-Taking: Elementary School (Ages 5 - 11)

At this stage, the child is very motivated to learn new skills and information. He acquires basic academic skills and wants to please his teachers and his parents. He also seeks to please his peers and develops friendships that are more long lasting than those of the preschool years. He can participate in team sports, learn to play an instrument, learn dance, drawing, acting, and much more. (Davis, 2009)

The child at this stage is capable of meeting the requirements of school and of extra-curricular activities, but there are risks associated with attempts to master these new skills. Every time the child strives to achieve, he risks failure. But, success following risk of failure gives the child a positive feeling and adds to his self-esteem. Excessive failure, on the other hand, can leave the child feeling incompetent and hopeless. (Davis, 2009)

Interestingly enough, excessive success can also be damaging to a child. When situations that should be risky—playing sports, for example—are no longer risky because score is not kept and everyone gets a trophy at the end of the season just for showing up, any self-esteem that is gained is only temporary because it is a false self-esteem. In order to actually increase self-esteem, children must risk failure and occasionally meet with failure (or at least only partial success), so that a win actually means something. And so it is with other sorts of tasks at this age. Telling children that they are all “super stars” at everything eliminates the element of risk as well as the potential benefits.

Good risks that are associated with this stage include attempting to learn something new (the states and capitals, for example), going to a friend’s house for a sleep-over, asking a new friend over to play, writing a creative story, and trying out for the travelling soccer team. Bad risks include not studying for a spelling test, refusing to go on a school field-trip, calling out the answer in class, gossiping about the new child in school, copying another student’s idea for a story, and refusing to try to achieve something that he very much wants to achieve. (Davis, 2009)
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References

Davis, S. and Eppler-Wolff, N. (2009). Raising Children Who Soar: A Guide to Healthy Risk-Taking in an Uncertain World. New York: Teachers College Press.