Physical development

  • Slow and steady period of growth.

Developmental changes

  • Child may wish for special relationship with opposite sex parent and compete with parent of the same sex. (e.g. "I'm going to marry you.")
  • Child more independent – sees him\herself as a separate person. Family
  • attitudes remain the primary source of child's self esteem and sense of
  • security.
  • Imitation of adult behavior.
  • Amused by excretory functions and will use language that family members use; Excellent time to learn proper labels and functions of body parts.
  • Some curiosity about babies, pregnancy and the birth process.
  • Use of obscenities and repetition of "curse" words. Children learn from modelling.
  • The focus of pleasurable sensations shifts from the oral area (e.g. Putting
  • toys into their mouth) to the genital and anal zone (e.g. Being curious about bodily functions); therefore, toilet training becomes a major event.

Normative sexual behaviours

  • Increasingly curious about bodies.
  • Understands that they are boy or girl, but may pretend to be of the opposite gender.
  • Inquisitive about body differences (i.e. play 'doctor', undress dolls).
  • Express interest in words associated with bathroom behaviors (toilet talk).
  • Start to ask sexually related questions (i.e. "Where did I come from?").
  • Family values and appropriate modeling are very important.

Information on physical and developmental changes adapted with permission from calgaryhealthregion.ca. Information regarding normative behaviour from CPRI sexuality education manual.