popeye@ihuxn.UUCP (D. Saylor) (04/17/85)
The question I have is what importance does the crawling stages have for the development of a child. The reason why I ask is my son, just turned 6 months, seems to be rather strong for his age (Proud Daddy, huh!). At the age of 5 months, he was able to sit by himself once we propped him up. Now, he is starting to pull himself up on nearby furniture, not quite making it however. He doesn't have the coordination down to crawl but usually turns complete circles and inches forward while on the floor. Even the pediatrician believes he will walk very early, if not before he crawls. Anyone have any comments or know of any good myths about this? Thanx in advance, Doug
gas@nsc-pdc.UUCP (Gini Shevrin) (04/19/85)
> The question I have is what importance does the crawling stages > have for the development of a child. The reason why I ask is > my son, just turned 6 months, seems to be rather strong for his > age (Proud Daddy, huh!). At the age of 5 months, he was able to > sit by himself once we propped him up. Now, he is starting to > pull himself up on nearby furniture, not quite making it however. > He doesn't have the coordination down to crawl but usually > turns complete circles and inches forward while on the floor. > Even the pediatrician believes he will walk very early, if > not before he crawls. > > Anyone have any comments or know of any good myths about this? > > > Thanx in advance, > Doug This is not supported by references, but I believe I read somewhere that the longer they crawl, the better they will read later. Something about coordination. DOes anybody know anything about this? Meantime, Doug, never fear. My 1 year old has been standing and walking along furniture for ages, still not walking. Pediatritians often say what the parents want to hear when it comes to "Gee isn't my baby advanced? (Puff, puff)" Have fun.
tron@fluke.UUCP (Peter Barbee) (04/20/85)
>The question I have is what importance does the crawling stages >... >Even the pediatrician believes he will walk very early, if >not before he crawls. > >Anyone have any comments or know of any good myths about this? > Maybe I'm naive but I figure that whatever happens in this regard is the best. My brother walked early and never did lean to crawl, I learned to crawl very early but was a late walker. The whole issue of "early" or "late" with regard to your child's development is a crock of *^&%. Your child will master each stage of development at just the right time for her/him. It is fun sometimes to compare when your Billy learned to touch his fingers to his nose, or your neighbor's Susie learned to dirty her diapers in three colors. But it is all just amusement, unless your child's development varies by light years from another child's don't sweat it, it isn't worth the grief. Peter B
kaiser@jaws.DEC (Pete Kaiser, HLO2-1/N10 225-5441) (04/23/85)
Mireille was pulling herself up and cruising at 5 months ("cruising" is when the
baby holds on to something, like the rail of its crib, and sidles along holding
onto it). She was so good at it we expected her to walk unaided any day, but
what actually happened was that she began crawling at about 9 months -- a very
ordinary age to crawl -- and to walk at about a year, also a very ordinary age.
An infant's ability to walk depends on nearly a single thing: the degree of
myelinization of its nervous tissue. Myelin is a fatty whitish material that
insulates the conducting fibers of nervous tissue; this insulation speeds up the
conduction of nerve impulses. When there's enough myelin covering nerve tissue,
the speed of nerve impulses is fast enough for the baby to be able to walk. And
at that age it will walk, even if, for example, having its legs in casts has
prevented it from ever crawling or locomoting "normally".
This myelinization, by the way, has nothing to do with muscular development or
intellect; it's just a physiological condition, like eye color. So although
some babies do walk earlier (later) than others, this has practically no bearing
on anything else about the baby's development.
---Pete
Kaiser%JAWS.DEC@decwrl.arpa, Kaiser%BELKER.DEC@decwrl.arpa
{allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-jaws!kaiser
DEC, 77 Reed Road (HLO2-1/N10), Hudson MA 01749 617/568-5441kim@analog.UUCP (Kim Helliwell ) (04/30/85)
> The question I have is what importance does the crawling stages > have for the development of a child. The reason why I ask is > my son, just turned 6 months, seems to be rather strong for his > age (Proud Daddy, huh!). At the age of 5 months, he was able to > sit by himself once we propped him up. Now, he is starting to > pull himself up on nearby furniture, not quite making it however. > He doesn't have the coordination down to crawl but usually > turns complete circles and inches forward while on the floor. > Even the pediatrician believes he will walk very early, if > not before he crawls. > > Anyone have any comments or know of any good myths about this? > > > Thanx in advance, > Doug There is a school of thought (among child development specialists) that says that crawling is a required stage in the development of a child. Any attempt to shorten or eliminate the crawling stage would impair the brain's ability to process information (and hence the child's ability to read, for example). The impairment is not necessarily permanent; just harder to fix after the fact than letting the child crawl naturally. The "impairment" has to do with the coordination of the information processing of the right and left halves of the brain; if you are right handed, the left half of your brain is the primary information processor. If you are right-handed, but left-eyed, for example, there is a certain amount of confusion which results from the stronger input to the right half of the brain from the left eye, which reduces the effiency of the information processing during reading. I am not qualified to comment on the correctness of this--it is a theory, and I think there are competing theories of child development. But in any case, there is little evidence to suggest that early walking (with a short or nonexistent crawling stage) is more beneficial--I think any C.D. expert would tell you that. I wouldn't "push" junior into walking before he is ready--he (or she?) will do so when he is ready, which (in my experience) will turn out to be too soon in terms of the increased mobility and the consequent increased ability to get into things! Relax and let nature take its course! It's more fun that way, anyway! Kim Helliwell hplabs!analog!kim
debbiem@rruxe.UUCP (D. McBurnett) (05/04/85)
I had a similar experience with my son. He wasn't much interested in crawling at any age. When he was 5 and a half months old, he sat up by himself. The NEXT DAY, he pulled himself up to standing and from that point starting cruising along the furniture. We were afraid this might be too early, and did not encourage him, but he had his mind made up that walking was where it was at. By the time he was eight months old he was walking on his own with no difficulty (actually protesting against being carried or sitting in a stroller, most of the time). He is now almost four years old and doesn't exhibit any kind of motor deficiencies as a result of not crawling. Also, he is starting to learn to read (we have not pushed this, either, but when he asks what signs and such say, we do try to get him to "sound it out" to get him to think instead of just telling him, and because he has an excellent memory, once a word is covered, he generally recognizes it when he sees it again). What with the fairly small amount of "teaching" we do along these lines, plus what he sees on "Sesame Street", he has little difficulty in picking up new (though short and easy) words, at his own learning pace. So not crawling doesn't seem to have affected him particularly in this area either. I tend to agree with the philosophy of letting kids "go at their own pace". If they want to do something and it doesn't appear harmful, by all means help them along, but don't push. Other than that, I'm not too big on child-raising "theories" -- every kid is different, and what's good for one is not right for another. You need to tailor your approach to the individual child. Debbie McBurnett rruxe!debbiem