Crawling

Crawling is an incredibly important stage of child development. It allows children to develop their upper bodies strengthening the trunk, shoulders and hand muscles. The mechanics of crawling also stimulate different areas of the brain that are important for future learning. Some children miss this stage of development but don’t worry, just provide plenty of opportunities for crawling to happen; even as they get older. Keep children away from chairs! They spend a long time sat on chairs at school so make sure you provide the opportunity for them to develop the core strength needed to do this with steadiness and confidence. They have a lot to think about once they’re at those school tables so the steadier they are, the better their posture is, the less they have to think about. You don’t prepare children to sit on a chair by sitting them on a chair. Contradiction? You don’t go out on the motorway driving until you’ve had lots of lessons and gone down the quite streets, you have to practice all the skills needed first to get to that point. Crawling is a skill that is great for developing both physical and cognitive development so encourage it in your home. Do the colouring lying on your tummy on the floor, build train tracks, set up small play on the floor, push cars, crawl through tunnels or under tables. And chairs? Leave them for crawling under unless they are sat on them for meal times. If your child’s feet do not meet the ground when sat on the chair then ground them by providing a stool to place their feet on. Crawling so much more than getting from A to B.