At this age, children are often very excited by and genuinely interested in the outside world. Your child will be able to absorb information with enthusiasm and frequently remember remarkable detail about subjects that interest her.
By the eight of eight, your child might already be developing preferences for certain subjects at school, or particular areas of interest. He has beginner’s skills in reading, writing and maths, and the capacity to express relatively complex ideas.
Your child’s thinking processes are subject to her emotions and self-esteem. If she’s worried or unhappy, she won’t be able to concentrate or ‘think properly’, and generally won’t have the strength to overcome this until her worries are sorted out.
Similarly, if your child’s self-esteem is low he might be reluctant to try new tasks in case he fails. Cognitive development in these years has a lot to do with feeling settled and supported to try new things and to extend himself.
In these years, your child might:
- Begin to have some understanding of money (around six years)
- Understand that Santa isn’t real (at about seven -eight years)
- Be able to tell the time (by seven -eight years)
- Read to herself
- Start to plan ahead
- Know left from right
- Like to have collections (stamps, games, cards and so on).
