Tzeadim › By age
6–12 years
Gross motor
- Break up long sitting
Stand and move for a few minutes every hour — school-age screen sitting included. Long unbroken sitting carries its own risk.
- Off with the training wheels
Better: skip them entirely with a balance bike; if used, remove between 5 and 7.
- Swims 25 metres
Can swim a pool length and float/tread water for a minute — the practical drowning-safety threshold.
Social & emotional
- What to do when someone is being hurt
Bullying peaks between 9 and 12. Children who know what a bystander can do actually do it.
Thinking
- Reads simple Hebrew text with nikud
End of 1st grade: decodes short words and sentences with vowel points.
- Understands tens and units
Knows that 24 is two tens and four units — the idea the rest of arithmetic stands on.
- Tells the time on a clock
Reads an analogue clock to the quarter hour and understands how long things take.
- Reads fluently without nikud
Around 3rd grade: reads chapter books and unpointed text with understanding.
- Knows the multiplication facts
Recalls the tables quickly enough that they stop being the hard part of a problem.
Self care
- Ties shoelaces
A late fine-motor skill; velcro is fine until 6–7.
- Out of night diapers
Wait for 2+ weeks of dry mornings; 5–7 is still normal; bedwetting is evaluated at 7.
- Wind down night-time pull-ups
Night dryness is a body clock, not training. Drop the pull-up once it is dry most mornings.
- Showers and washes hair alone
Full body and hair without help; you still check the results for a while.
- Handles pocket money
A small regular amount, their own decisions, and the freedom to spend it badly once.
- Manages homework mostly alone
Knows what's due, starts without a fight, asks for help when stuck; parents fade to checking only.
- Walks to school (or a friend's) alone
Typically 8–10 depending on the route; build up with supervised practice and a safe-route map.
- Cooks something simple with supervision
Eggs, pasta, a sandwich, a salad — with an adult in the room.
- Flosses without being told
Once the permanent teeth touch, brushing alone cannot reach between them.
- Stays home alone for a short time
Half an hour to an hour, in daylight, after a practised run-through. Israel sets no legal minimum age — it is a judgement call.
Feeding
- Family meals 3–5 times a week
From school age through the teens, shared meals track with better eating, mood and lower risk behaviour — 3+ a week is where it shows.
- Calcium while bones are being built
Most of adult bone mass is laid down between 9 and 18 — about 1,300 mg of calcium a day, plus vitamin D.
- Watch for disordered eating
Eating disorders peak between 14 and 18 and start quietly — often as a diet everyone praised.
Sleep
- School-age sleep: 9–12 hours (6–12)
Fixed bedtime also on weekends (±1 hour); screens out of the bedroom; 20 minutes of reading in bed.
- Phones charge outside the bedroom
From school age (teens especially): devices sleep elsewhere, do-not-disturb on. Even unused bedroom devices track with worse sleep.
Health
- Dental sealants on the first molars (~6)
Free in the child dental basket; the six-year molars come in behind the baby teeth without any falling out.
- Yearly check-up (6–18)
Height/weight/BMI, blood pressure, vision, mood and school check with the pediatrician; teens get confidential time alone.
- Hearing and vision check before first grade
The school health service checks hearing, vision and growth at school entry, and completes missing vaccines.
- Eyes checked every year at school age
Short-sightedness usually starts between 6 and 12 and progresses quietly. Two hours outdoors a day slows it.
- MMRV — dose 2 in 1st grade (born before 2025)
Given at school in 1st grade for children born before 1 Jan 2025. Travelling abroad earlier? Ask Tipat Halav to give it from 12 months.
- DTaP-IPV booster (2nd grade)
Given at school in 2nd grade, together with the flu vaccine.
- First orthodontic look, around 7
One assessment around 7, while the jaw is still growing, catches crossbites and crowding early.
- Parent stops brushing the child's teeth
Around 7–8, when the child can write in cursive, they can brush properly; keep checking at night for a while.
- Cholesterol screen once at 9–11
Universal once in this window (and again at 17–21); earlier if a parent has high cholesterol or early heart disease.
- Back check during the growth spurt
A quick forward-bend look during the growth spurt — around 10–12 for girls, 12–14 for boys.
Safety
- Head knocks: out of play, same day
Any suspected concussion means no return to play that day, and a doctor before going back.
- Out of the booster seat (8 years or 145 cm)
Israeli law: to 8; safest: until the belt fits — lap belt on the thighs, shoulder belt mid-shoulder, back against the seat.
- Scooters and e-bikes: the legal ages
In Israel electric bikes and scooters are legal from 16, with a helmet. They are a leading cause of teen injury.
Play & learning
- Keep reading aloud after they can read
Reading aloud to a child who can already read keeps vocabulary and the bedtime conversation going.
- Try several sports, specialise late
Two or three different activities across the year beats one all year — fewer injuries, less dropout.
For the parent
- Online safety talk (from 8)
Strangers online, what not to share, 'come to me even if you broke a rule', bullying, 105 hotline. Repeat every year.
- Puberty talk (girls) by 8–9
Breast buds can start at 8; periods typically 12–13 (2–3 years after breast buds). Talk before the changes, not after.
- Puberty talk (boys) by 9–10
Testicular growth is the first sign (9–14); voice and growth spurt around 13–15. Cover hygiene, erections, wet dreams, mood.
- Delay the first smartphone
A basic phone or watch covers the reason you are buying it. The internet in a pocket can wait.
- Lock away medications and weapons
Most adolescent self-harm is impulsive. Putting time and distance between a bad moment and the means saves lives.