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Gesell's studies of the adolescent have only strengthened his belief that the stages of growing up fall into a pattern. Though each child is an individual and goes through different experiences, he will share with other children certain ways of thinking and acting. He may not reach the same stage at the same age. but he will eventually fall heir to an array of characteristics typical of a particular age. Thus, "the relative equilibrium of Five-year-oldness gives way to the impulsiveness of Five-and-a-half and the creative thrusts of Six. and these in their turn lead to the inwardness of Seven, the expansiveness of Eight, the self-motivation of Nine." But the pattern runs in a series of cycles. "An underlying theme repeats itself . . . Three-and-a-half and Seven bring inward-izing thrusts, sometimes moodiness. even anxieties; Four and Eight reverse these thrusts . . . Four-and-a-half and Nine try to bring inner and outer thrusts into unity.'' At ten. as at five, the forces at work within the child seem to come into temporary harmony.
The Clubman. To a large extent, says Gesell, ten is a ''golden age." Ten is fond of his home and takes pleasure in cataloguing the characteristics of his friends. As a matter of fact, the ten-year-old boy likes just about everyone—except girls. Though the girls reciprocate the indifference, they sense that the future will change all that ("We are not interested in boys yet"). The girls are more curious about sex. The boy "questions very little, and when he does, it is apt to be an offhand question—often asked at an inopportune time."
Though he has little trouble with food, "there is something about soap and water and being a Ten-year-old that does not mix." Otherwise pleasant and cooperative. Ten "stands his ground when it comes to taking a bath ... As for self-care in other ways—the combing of hair, brushing of teeth and care of nails—all these are in the hinterland as far as Ten is concerned . . . The care of clothes is now at a dismal low."
Ten loves his mother and admits that "a home isn't really a home without a father . . . though at some earlier ages he could have gotten on quite well without | one." Outside the house he becomes a clubman, is intrigued by all sorts of secret societies with such high-sounding mottoes as "Have will power" or "Share hardships together." His humor runs to pranks and secondhand puns ("Virginia," he will say to a girl of that name, "you must be a state"). His reading tastes run to books with the words secret, mystery or horse in the title. Though not bothered by competition, he dislikes to excel. Says he: "It makes me feel funny if I'm the best."