Parents need to adapt parenting to developmental changes in the child.Trace some of these changes as the child passes through early childhood to junior high school.

Children change as they grow from infancy to early childhood and on through middle and late childhood and adolescence.A competent parent adapts to the child's developmental changes.In the early years,the relationship between parent and child is that of a caregiver.Parent-child interactions during early childhood focus on such matters as modesty,bedtime regularities,control of temper,fighting with siblings,and eating behaviors.As children move into the middle- and late-childhood years,parents spend considerably less time with their children.Parents continue to be extremely important socializing agents in their children's lives.