As children move through middle childhood, parental influence is accompanied by a number of outside influences that can shape and impact development during this stage.These outside influences include peers, schools, television/video games and stress. 

For this assignment, you will write an essay style paper detailing which outside influence you believe has a significant impact on middle childhood development outside of the home. Your paper should include the following aspects:

• Introduction to your chosen influence and why you chose it.
• Research:  Find two current (within the past 5-7 years) research articles that support your belief or refute your belief regarding your chosen influence on development.  Summarize each article individually to include purpose of the research, brief description of the methodology of the research (do not include specific statistics) and the findings of the research. 
• Conclusion:  Write a concluding paragraph discussing how your opinion may or may not have changed on the topic based on your research.  Also, include in your conclusion, two or three strategies for managing this influence.