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The 8-10 years-olds I see are, on the lower end of this age spectrum, emerging from early childhood and not yet 'tweens. It doesn't mean nothing's happening. Their growth in terms of height usually slows down around this time. I think of it as a sleepy/pudgy stage. Kids seem to get both sleepier and pudgier during this time.Storing Potential. Think of a caterpillar in its cocoon. It begins as a thin and tiny worm. Just when the worm grows its fattest (storing so much potential!) it struggles against the cocoon (like a teen struggles against the rules which the teen as a younger child once abided by). Analogies only go so far, but think of this time in your child's life as a time s/he must store and generate information, power, savoir faire, and a new being -- for her or his future.The ages of 8-10 are ones which develop increasing independent emotional security, knowledge and information. This is the time to develop good habits of both physical, mental, philosophical, and moral hygeine; traits which develop increasingly during this time include curiosity, a love of reading and research research, creativity, and joy/self-satisfaction.Peer Rankings. Though it may not be digitized like PeopleRank, kids monitor one another's 'cool' factor long before this age. This is also a time when peer rankings can become life-defining. A classroom or school property or walk home, or cyberspace, or mobile media populated with mean and bullying kids can alter the outcome of someone's life. The really rough harrassment stuff and mean bullying stuff? It now often begins during--or before!-- this period of time between the ages of 8-10. In my over 25 years of being an education advocate, this is the first time I am ever seeing so much mean bullying so early.Ability Rankings. This potential-storing of all information increases between exit from early childhood at age 8 and continues increasing at exponential rates. With access to appropriate education, reading fluency increases, comprehension increases, vocabulary gains tremendously, understanding of maths allows an understanding of quantification, distance, speed, and many other exciting sciences -- so that gradually and by the time they slip into adolescence, the hormones that begin changing children to adults usually some time after the pudgy/sleepy stage also cause their metabolism rates to increase.Physicality. Imagine this: it's not their imaginations when teenagers feel like their blood may just want to boil. They are a cauldron of potential energy stored since the ages of 8-10, which now begins slowly but increasingly popping and fizzing. Towards the end of the pre-teen time, kids suddenly begin growing taller faster, eating more, and sleeping more and more deeply at night (once they get to sleep. Bedtimes are a different subject). Pop pop, fizz fizz, hormones plus food plus sleep plus exercise plus safety and privacy and love -- and our 8-10 year old increasingly pudgy and sleepy child becomes a pre-teen, who becomes a teenager! struggliing to break free of the cocoon and irrationally and impulsively test wings not yet fully developed for flight.To keep developing human beings from focusing on the impulses caused by preadolescent chemicals percolating in the cauldrons of their bodies, it's helpful to have interests and hobbies they can learn and develop at this time in life. It is part of habituating them to self-control. To have control of one's self, it is necessary to be able to calm oneself, and this is a good time to teach the habit of using calming techniques. Simultaneously encourage your child to acquire as many skills or trades as possible, such as music, learning to play an instrument, art, macrame, crochet, knitting, knot tying, keyboarding, sailing, Boy Scout and Girl Scout badges are also great for this teaching and motivating the learning of this stuff -- whittling, woodworking, pottery, calligraphy, gardening, etc. We are limited only by our imaginations regarding what we can learn and do at any age.Habituate Now All Things Academic, of Interest, and Necessary. So, to answer your question, this is a time, between the ages of 8-10, to allow a child unlimited library access (going every other day would be a great idea); and the freedom to be creative, to learn everything and anything of physical, emotional, academic, creative or personal interest, to follow her or his muse, to create habits of hygiene, social exchange and comportment (I love sending parents to enroll their children (boys and girls both) in Cotillion at this age, because it is the perfect time to give children the potential to go anywhere in the world and meet anyone, dance with anyone, dine with Princess Kate while charming her, and make new friends. Scouting, Guides, United Nations Youth, etc are all wonderful for habituating important and interesting attitudes.Teach The Rules of Social Engagement Now, before 'tween time. The rules of social engagement are practiced at Cotillion and can raise a child's self esteem and ability to converse to the point of social art. This period of time, during the ages of 8-10, develop the personality traits that allow your child to become engaged successfully in her or his future social world.Develop emotional intelligence / empathy by encouraging empathetic acts. Knowing the rules of social engagement also contributes value to the ultimate place in the pecking order of Life your child will attain. Some people refer to this as 'emotional intelligence.' Let your child first learn self-mastery by learning to be a leader of one, filled with the grace of goodness (as s/he defines it for her or himself), and always knowing which choice will be the best solution.Learning Methodology Requires Application of Research to create Best Practices Templates. We want our children to leave the slowish-seeming pudgy/sleepy stage capable of arriving at a conscious choice with a full and complete awareness of alternatives and a thorough consideration of all relevant and valid competing rationale. While they are seeming to slow down on the outside, their minds are absorbing emotion and information. Meditation helps expedite the sorting of information and increases maturity and mental habit when this process is followed habitually and with commitment. Other methods of cementing learning include long distance hiking. The reason this is the case?Karina Richland of http://www.pridelearningcenter.com and I once discovered there was cognitive research showing that certain repetitive physical activity (which causes the upper arm muscles to move repetitively) is positively correlated with learning new information more thoroughly, with greater retention, and with more understanding, depth and awareness of the subject being studied. This is because moving the upper arm in a rhythmic manner impacts memory by storing information in multiple areas of the brain for better access and deeper information contacts where emotion, sensation, color, memory, and experience are stored. Using available researched information and applying it effectively will be more likely to help your child to more quickly and with greater confidence master the unspoken curriculum of the pudgy/sleepy stage: developing good habits for life.Learning how to engage in reasoned and civil debate will also become one of the greatest assets we can teach our children at this, and every, age. For what better way to end conflict, than to sit down at a table and discuss it using social conventions demonstrating mutual respect? Kids moving beyond the sleepy/pudgy stage and into their pre-teen or teen years will benefit from being able to defend their convictions with language, because, with adequate education as described above, they will be the ones who know their own thoughts.