|
|
Home
and Family
One Step at a Time
by A. Ross
The word "patterning" was coined about 40 years ago. Some
experts in child development claimed that if a very badly
retarded child was stimulated both mentally and physically,
and forcibly made to do things which a normally developing
baby does automatically, he would develop more rapidly. One
of the programs of the rigid regime which was prescribed in
the "patterning" to be carried out several times a day
throughout the day, was to teach the child to crawl. A team
of three adults was needed: one to move the head, the second
the right arm and leg and the third, to move the other two
limbs in the exact way in which a normal baby crawls. The
question has arisen more recently: Do all babies crawl? Do
they all need to crawl in order to achieve the optimum motor
and cognitive development?
Some babies "swim" across the floor on their stomachs, and
never quite achieve the perfect position on all fours, on
their hands and knees. There are some, who, amazingly, shift
around on their bottoms with one leg curled under them.
Babies devise ingenious ways of mobility. Some mothers put
the baby into a walker, in which he zooms around the house.
This will not speed up the walking process; on the contrary,
if the baby can move at such speed, why should he bother with
the laborious process of learning to walk! Actually, this
also applies to those babies who achieve an amazing speed at
crawling. They might walk a month or two later than their
peers, because they are able to move so quickly on all fours.
Although parents claim that the child is happiest in an
upright position, a walker is not a piece of furniture to be
recommended. It is a dangerous acquisition which has caused
many accidents, some of them quite serious. When a baby
learns to pull himself up onto his feet, he will improvise
his own walkers. Although these have no wheels, they may also
cause accidents, but are a natural part of learning to walk.
Who can prevent a baby from pushing a chair or the toy box to
help support him as he gets around?
Whichever way babies chose to move, they are meant to be
walking by the age of fifteen months, according to
"statistics." Oh those statistics! It is now known that
walking, whether early or late, is determined genetically.
Some tiny creatures learn to walk at the age of nine months,
although friends of the mother may not believe it till they
get a personal demonstration! Others may not walk till they
are over two, in which case the well baby clinic will send
the mother to see a developmental specialist for
evaluation.The specialist will decide whether the delay is
caused by a neurological problem, or rickets (very rare in
this day and age) or some muscular disorder. The earlier one
deals with these problems, the more successful the
results.
There is no guarantee that early walkers are future geniuses.
In fact, if anything, these tiny ones need more supervision
than babies a few months older, as they know even less about
what constitutes danger. Nor is there any lack of cognitive
development in late walkers. A small study carried out fairly
recently, showed that although the babies who crawled earlier
developed mental skills more quickly because they were
stimulated by the various objects they found as they moved
around, others, not yet walking, developed equally quick if
the objects were placed within reach.
With the world wide fear of cot deaths, mothers have been
told to lay the baby on his back. Many have not been told
that in order for his shoulder and neck muscles to develop,
he must spend some of the day, while he is awake, on his
stomach. If toys are placed just centimeters out of his
reach, he will make every effort to get at them. If he is the
sort of baby who gets frustrated easily, make sure that he
manages to get the coveted object fairly easily.
Buying the first pair of shoes is an exciting event, even if
it is not your first child. Personally, I preferred my
children to walk barefoot or in socks until they were quite
steady on their feet. In any case, they are not yet ready to
walk in the street, besides which they might balk in the shoe
shop as the assistant obligingly shows an amazing variety of
tiny shoes. Knowing how easily the baby outgrows his first
pair, mothers might be tempted to get them too big, so that
he can grow into them. This is never a good idea, but
definitely not with a first pair — he is better off
without shoes than with a pair which might make him fall.
To summarize: While motor development is genetically
determined, environment plays a part too. If baby is kept on
his back in a small crib, with little outside stimulation, he
will not begin to move until much later. Although crawling is
not an essential part of a child's development, it is worth
encouraging your baby to crawl. If you know that your
children all talk before they walk, do not let other people
worry you unduly. As long as you know what is normal for your
own family, after the first two or three children who were
checked regularly, you can relax. You have discovered that
while your children might not be competitors in the Olympics,
they all learn to walk before they are three! It is very
tempting, but not always wise, to compare your child's
progress with that of other children. Let them all develop at
their own pace, but do not forget to stimulate them.
|
