khw@akgua.UUCP (K.H. Woodworth [Woody]) (08/14/84)
If your child walks 'early', then perhaps he/she is ready to walk. If your child walks 'late', then maybe she/he is not ready to walk yet. There are risks in either case if you decide to intervene and overrule what the child has defined as acceptable progress for him/herself. Children all have an internal timetable that is entirely individual, seem to define tasks for themselves that they work at repetitively without any coaching from us superior beings, and all possess a tremendous momentum for progress. I am aware of the importance of 'patterning' in mental development. Maybe 'early' walkers take some synaptic shortcuts that are damaging, and maybe they don't, but I think that the evidence certainly isn't conclusive- maybe early walking is a symptom of different 'hardwiring' and not a cause of it. In any case, I'll trust my 7-month-old's instincts about his own progress (not walking yet, but wants to real bad) over an expert's advice any day. Karl (woody) Woodworth akgua!khw