How to teach your child to move with ease and greater freedom?
Recently a number of my new clients exemplified a learned habit of effort and strain when moving their bodies.
Imagine living a life when every physical action you take is effortful, how exhausting that would be!
Contrary to popular belief, children don’t need to work hard to learn.
In fact, when children are put in situations where they need to try really hard, just like grown ups, they develop a habit of tensing up their body, hiking up their shoulders and stiffening their chests.
From my experience of being a paediatric physiotherapist for almost 10 years, infants and children learn much faster and are better able to retain their learning when the movements are easy and enjoyable.
For example, one of my clients couldn’t reach down to pick toys up off the floor while sitting on a low stool. He did not know that he could put weight on his legs to balance himself. In fact he was so stressed when ‘nudged’ to do so that he began to fuss.
To make this task easier for him, I first placed him sitting on a few gardening pads about 3 inches high. He picked up the toy easily. Because it was so easy, he did it again and again.
The height of the padding was then slowly raised to 4 inches, 5 inches and finally 6 inches, the same height as the low stool. Before long, this child had no problems picking up toys from the floor while on a stool.
This action became so natural for him that he began challenging himself and picked up a toy that was further away. He put his hand on the floor and balanced himself with his arm while reaching forward for the toy. And, he did that all by himself with no prior coaching.
This is just one simple example of how you can break up currently challenging tasks for your child. After a taste of initial success, your child will be so much more motivated to practice more and build on that success.
It sounds so simple you might say, how come I’ve never thought of this!
The next time you play with you child, offer more support. Sometimes simply having your hand on your child’s body helps to settle their nervous system.
You can then choose to offer as much or as little help as possible. Your child knows that you will be there when help is needed. As a result, your child will be that much braver and more willing to problem solve around the next challenging task!
Using this simple principle, what would you like to help your child achieve today?
