Resources

Checkups at 9 Years

[9 Year Old Quiz]

What Can Your Child Do at Nine?

• He should be comfortable in school and should have at least several good friends.
• She should have some idea as to her strengths and weaknesses.
• He should be active in sports or hobbies.
• She should understand the rules of your home, although she may forget occasionally. When this happens, a prearranged discipline should be enforced. Do not yell or embarrass her. Doing these undercuts her dignity and will only cause her to be angry (appropriately) with you.
• He will still be very close to his parents and desire to be hugged, held, and protected.
• She may have a lot of questions about the world that she is discovering. Answer them patiently since in the next few years she may not be so ready to listen to you.
• Some children are growing rapidly at this age. Most are still only adding a few pounds and 1-2 inches a year.

What Can Your Child Eat?

• Encourage him to engage in physical activity and to limit inactive times such as watching television or playing video games.
• She should have a balanced diet and should eat breakfast before school. Your example of how to eat will be even more important since she will have the money and freedom to eat at friends' homes or at convenience stores.
• Discourage frequent snacking other than with fruits or vegetables. Do not add extra salt. He should not have red meat and eggs daily. Give him a multivitamin daily if he is a picky eater.
• Increase the intake of fiber in her diet in cereals, whole-grain breads, fruits, and vegetables.
• Make sure he brushes his teeth daily.

Immunizations

No immunizations are required this year.

Tests to Be Done

• She may have an analysis of her urine during her checkup. This checks for kidney disease, diabetes, and bladder infections.
• A tuberculin (TB) skin test may be needed if he has been exposed to someone with TB, a chronic cough, IV drug use, HIV disease (AIDS), recent prison time, time in a developing country, or if required by her school or insurance.

Accident Prevention

• Spend time with him doing the activities he wants to do will help you to become closer to him. This will limit later problems with drugs, pregnancy, suicide, or school failure.
• Any electrical or power equipment you allow her to use should be thoroughly explained and supervised before letting her use it on her own.
• Set limits on time, distance, and location that he can go away from home. You should always know where he is.
• She should be closely monitored while playing sports especially if your 9-year-old is trying to compete with older children.
• He needs to know a safety plan to get out of your house in case of fire.
• Teach her to avoid crossing fast-moving streams and enter ponds or lakes feet first and only with close supervision. Life jackets should be worn by everyone in a boat.
• Air rifles and pellet guns should be treated cautiously since they have caused many deaths.
• He should wear safety helmets at all times while riding his bicycle.
• She should not ride in the back of a pickup truck.
• Poison Control is 1-800-POISON 1.

Emotional and Social Development

• He should have some privacy and freedom at this age. He should be allowed to play with his friends as he wishes within reasonable limits.
• Avoid criticizing her friends. She probably sees their faults almost as clearly as you do.
• Praise him for good grades, but also encourage him to maintain good morals, develop good friendships, have activities outside school, and show respect for others. If he is not a good student, encourage him to study more while also emphasizing his other good qualities.
• Try to have family activities that involve the whole family.
• If you use drugs, alcohol in excess, or smoke cigarettes frequently, she is more likely to use drugs, alcohol, or tobacco herself.
• Allow him to make age appropriate decisions such as choosing preferred clothing.
• Teach her that there are private parts of her body that even relatives should not touch.
• He should be doing some chores to learn responsibility. A weekly allowance will help him to develop money sense.
• Each parent should have time alone with her. Encourage her to read for fun.
• Extensive television or video games limit family interaction and discourage his creativity.
• You cannot show too much affection toward her at this age.
• He should have a regular bedtime.
• Be involved with schoolwork as much as possible. Involvement with parent-teacher organizations will give you some say in how she is taught. If you are not happy about school, by law, you can be granted a conference with the teacher, principal, and school counselors.
• Make every effort to attend athletic events, plays, recitals, and other special occasions that occur in the life of your preteen. Few things you do will be so important to him.

Moral Development of Your Child

• Your openness in talking about anything that bothers her and your positive role model will help her to adopt similar values as yourself.
• He will learn more from what you do than what you say. If you smoke and drink frequently, he will likely do these when he is older. If you divorce easily or have sex with many partners, he will likely repeat this in adulthood.
• Limit her exposure to undesirable influences.
• Actively set limits on the amount and type of TV programs he watches and teach him what is morally good and bad about what he sees.
• Irresponsible sex is shown on TV as glamorous and without risks. About 80-90% of the sexuality shown on television is premarital, extramarital, or violent, and most of the marital sex is unenjoyable. Unwed pregnancies, diseases, or divorce are seldom mentioned. Over time teach your child how unrealistic this is.
• Violence as shown in movies and television is usually self-serving or vengeful. If you do not want her to think of violence as acceptable behavior when she is angry or selfish, then you need to limit her exposure to that philosophy.
• It is philosophically difficult to maintain firm moral standards without some form of religious instruction. Traditional Christianity and Judaism place value on the individual, the healthy family, and compassion toward others. The media and most other world views emphasize selfishness, irresponsible lives, and hunger for possessions. This is one of the main reasons so many children, teenagers, and young adults are confused and in trouble.
• Provide him with religious teaching. Otherwise his values will be shaped by others with whom you may not agree. One of the greatest gifts you can give him is to join a traditional Christian church or Jewish synagogue that has a good children's program.
• Moral instruction begins at a young age. Do not wait until her teenage years.

 

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9-YEAR-OLD QUIZ

These questions, based on research, are meant to teach your child facts that will help him or her have a fuller life.

Circle the Correct Answer

1. Kids who smoke marijuana usually make worse grades in school than kids who don't. (True or False).
2. Smoking cigarettes causes cancer of the lips, mouth, throat, and lungs. (True or False)
3. Smoking cigarettes causes heart attacks, high blood pressure, and can make a blood vessel in the brain to break and bleed. (True or False)
4. People who used drugs don't do as well in school, often get divorced, and have more trouble in their jobs than do people who do not use drugs. (True or False)
5. The most common cause of death of teenagers is drinking alcohol and driving a car. (True or False)
6. Divorce of parents usually makes kids happy. (True or False)
7. When everyone in a family treats the other family members nicely, the kids tend to be much happier. (True or False).
8. Staying married usually helps someone to live longer (True or False).
9. Kids who chew tobacco may get cancer of the lips or mouth when they are older. (True or False)

Answers and Explanations for Parents

1. True. Teenagers who smoke marijuana do not have their life threatened as with other drugs. However, marijuana seems to decrease the ambition and quality in many areas of life so that few things are done well by the chronic user including schoolwork. 2. True. Smoking causes an increase in many cancers, not just lung cancer. 3. True. Not only does smoking lead to cancer but several heart and circulation problems as well. Your child needs to be aware of the serious consequences that may occur if he or she begins to smoke. 4. True. Drug use is associated with many problems in health, family, occupation, and in social areas also. 5. True. More than 50% of deaths in car wrecks involve a drinking driver (or a "high" driver).  Motor vehicle accidents are far more common than the other causes of death.  6. False. Divorce of parents is associated with an increase in many problems with children. Included in these are poorer schoolwork, more depression, worse financial circumstances, greater chance of teenage pregnancy, and greater chance for divorce themselves. While no one has complete control over whether one divorces or not (since only one spouse has to file for divorce), it is important for your children to know that this is an important decision when they grow up. If you have been divorced, this might be a good time to reinforce the idea that divorce is not a very fun event to experience. 7. True. It is important for children to know that they have a responsibility to treat other family members well. 8. True. Persons who have been married to the same person for all their adult lives will tend to live  a lot longer than someone who has been divorced. 9. True. Children need to be aware that chewing tobacco has many dangers just like smoking cigarettes.