Personal Social And Emotional Development

"The ultimate goal of physical motor development is to make the human
organism as independent of gravity as is possible within the limitations of the
human body."

When babies begin to participate and engage in the world around them it is
indicative of them becoming more and more independent. From the moment a
toddler is born into this world she will begin the process of developing the motor
skills that are necessary for her to take command of that which is around her and
for her to relate with her environment. Because of this a toddler who has mastered
the motor skill of sitting up without help, for example, will have a completely
different outlook on the environment that they are a part of than a toddler who has
not yet mastered this skill and needs assistance from objects or adults to help
them up. You will find as your toddler begins to stack skill upon skill that her
experience of the world, and in turn the complexity of newly learned skills, will
grow exponentially. As your toddler’s motor skills grow and become more
complex, so will your toddler’s overall interaction with her environment.

Physical development can be broken up in to three-month intervals and divided
into two categories: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills
are the term used to describe your toddler’s ability to control different parts of her
own body. Fine motor skills refer to your toddler’s level of coordination of different
body parts, such as picking up an object with her thumb and forefinger.

Infant muscle development starts at the head and works its way down. Your toddler
will first develop control over the neck muscles. Soon after that she will learn to
control the torso, and finally the leg muscles. Your toddler will then start sitting up
on her own, crawling a bit, and turning over by herself. She will enjoy being
bounced on your knee, which is an excellent way for your toddler to begin to
develop balance. By the time she is around eight months old she will start
learning how to stand up on her own and will try to pull herself upright by holding
on to objects with your help.

Typically, a toddler will start walking between nine and fifteen months, with the
majority of babies walking just after the age of one (around thirteen to fourteen
months). If your toddler cannot walk but has no problem crawling, standing, or
sitting upright, this is completely normal. Some babies skip the crawling phase
entirely and can start walking as late as seventeen to nineteen months.
There are things you can do as a parent to stimulate your toddler to begin the
process of learning to walk. Although many parents believe that they need to get
their babies expensive toys and walking aids to facilitate early development, this
is completely untrue. What you need to do most is interact with your child as
much as possible; this is to facilitate brain development. Babies love to hear
stories. This is not just recreational or for entertainment, but very important for
helping along your toddler’s brain development. Instead of telling your toddler a story and making it up as you go along, try reading it aloud to her from a book. This
will help her develop her vocabulary. Play with her, talk to her, sing to her. The
reason younger children in a family develop at a faster rate than their older
siblings is that they have someone to interact with constantly (not just mom and
dad, but big brother or big sister as well). As far as toys and walking aids,
walkers are definitely NOT recommended, because babies tend to rely on them
too much. As a result of using walkers their upper leg muscles will not develop
as well as they should and this could lead to a delay in the development of motor
skills necessary for walking. Furthermore, each year there are around 200,000
injuries sustained to babies due to walker use. Around 30,000 of these injuries
are severe and include fractures, dislocations, and broken bones. Canada has
banned the use of walkers and the American Medical Association, as well as
various other organizations, has proposed a ban on walkers in the United States.
Do not get a walker for your toddler.

By Sarah Ashley

Sarah Ashley is a mother of 3, professional writer/reseacher and the author of the soon to be released "Meaningful Play: Super Fun Toddler Activities for Developmental Acceleration". For more information check out http://www.toddlerplaytime.com.

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