Parenting Technique 42 – Have your child’s posture in mind at all times.

Starting with your smallest baby and following it with each level of development, do what you can to keep your child in posture-beneficial positions.

“Motor memory” is king as is introduced in the two previous tips. Here are a few examples:

• You are feeding your baby from a bottle or nursing, and you have your baby in a comfortable position laying across your body. Check out that your baby’s legs are together and not in some other awkward position.

• You are watching your toddler play, and you see him or her kneeling on the floor. Look to make sure that his or her feet are facing behind and not out to the sides.

• You are walking with your preschooler or school age child, and you notice he or she is slumped over. Quietly become your own posture detective. See if you can figure out what might be causing the problem and then do what you can to correct it. One possible intervention would be to start play exercises that require walking tall, with head up high, and full of confidence!

Constructive Parenting…

Motor positions get fixed in the memory, and then memory fosters new motor positions. Great athletes attribute their success to this process. How do they get their positions right so often? Practice. “Practice makes perfect!”