Sunday, September 11, 2011

My Child's First Steps

By Maria Clair


I was euphoric that day when I put down my baby on the floor from her Bugaboo Cameleon and she took her 1st step. It was really important for me to be there to see when she took her first step and I was extremely happy that I was the one to witness it. It's weird as she did it like she had always been walking before. She was just crawling a couple of days before that, and then she just got up and started stumbling around. She didn't even hold on to anything. She just did it--it was wonderful!

It's only natural for our youngsters to take their first steps. If your baby doesn't have any handicaps or other outside influences that might obstruct them, walking should just come like his or her first tooth. The age when a kid will take his or her first step varies, though, and you cannot compare when your child's initial step will be to other children who have taken their first steps at an earlier time. There are a lot of environmental components as to why your child may not take their first steps early. I've got a colleague whose kid failed to walk till he was one and a half years of age because everything was just given to him when he asked. He wasn't allowed to get up because his mum and dad were worried he would fall. This is maybe one reason why he did not take his first steps early.

The same thing goes with their first words. If your kid always finds you understand him or her with baby talk, then your youngster may not be in a position to speak early. You must take a little time to teach your youngster to talk and in time you will see that he or she will not stop speaking.

Your kids need to feel that there's a need for them to walk and talk because this is basic human instinct. You can't just force your children to walk and talk, you have got to give them time to squirm around and take baby steps, figuratively and literally. It's vital for children to learn coordination and balance first before they walk and that is learned thru crawling. If you force your youngsters to walk, yes she will eventually walk, but she might fall and stumble even as a grown up because he did not learn the correct coordination and balance early on.

Whether or not your youngster walks and talks earlier compared to other youngsters, this doesn't suggest that they will become better athletes or smarter students. Do you know that Albert Einstein started walking when he was 4 years old? That's a good thought to ponder.




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