Moving and Connecting
Parent reflects on eight physical and social-emotional milestones for school-age children 6-9 years: bilateral motor coordination, writing control, basic empathy, fairness reasoning, guilt and shame awareness, industry and competence drive, peer belonging, and reciprocal friendship.
Opens a guided voice session in TogetherTime.
What you'll need
No materials needed. Parent reflects on recent observations.
How it works
- 1~90s
Two physical milestones. For coordination: does your child skip, ride a bicycle, jump rope, or catch and throw with both hands? Is they comfortable with activities that need both sides of the body working together? For writing: when your child writes — letters, drawings, copying — does they form letters consistently? Is the grip relaxed, or does they grip too tightly and fatigue quickly? Can they write for several minutes without hand cramps? Tell me what you observe.
Watch for: Child performs two-sided coordinated motor activities
- 2~90s
Three social-moral questions. First: when your child hurts someone's feelings or breaks a rule, does they feel genuine guilt — apologise, try to fix it, feel bad about the action? Does they understand the difference between 'I feel bad because I got caught' and 'I feel bad because I did something wrong'? Second: does your child care strongly about fairness — 'that's not fair', 'everyone should get the same amount'? Does they apply fairness rules even when they don't benefit them? Third: does your child show basic empathy — notice when someone is upset, adjust their behaviour, offer comfort? Tell me about each.
Watch for: Child experiences guilt about actions and distinguishes guilt from shame
- 3~90s
Two social milestones: belonging and competence. For peer belonging: does your child have a clear peer group? Does they feel like they belongs — a sense of 'these are my people'? Is they distressed about exclusion, or matter-of-fact? For reciprocal friendship: does your child have one or two friends with whom the relationship is genuinely mutual — they seek each other out, both initiate, both care about the other? And for competence: does your child feel pride in skills and effort — at school, sport, art, or anything? Does they take on challenges, or avoid things where they might fail? Tell me.
Watch for: Child feels a sense of belonging in a peer group
What this develops
- MilestoneBilateral Balance and Coordinationphysicalprimary
- MilestoneFine Motor Writing Controlphysicalprimary
- MilestoneBasic Empathysocial emotionalprimary
- MilestoneFairness-Based Moral Reasoningsocial emotionalprimary
- MilestoneGuilt and Shame Awarenesssocial emotionalprimary
- MilestoneIndustry and Competence Drivesocial emotionalprimary
- MilestonePeer Belonging and Acceptancesocial emotionalprimary
- MilestoneReciprocal Friendshipsocial emotionalprimary