Website: Children's Harnesses by Elaine, Inc. www.childharness.ca
and my other blogs about weight loss: Weight Loss Made Simple
and parenting my 2 boys: My Boys Can...

Wednesday 5 January 2011

The Importance of Walking

Sometimes re-stating the obvious is a good idea. We all know that walking is an easy and effective form of exercise but how many of us are denying ourselves AND OUR CHILDREN of this simple pleasure? How many of us leave the kids at home and drive around doing our errands because it's easier and faster? And if we take them with us, how many of us CARRY our child to the car, then when we get to where we're going, lock, strap and buckle them into a stroller TO RIDE while we march off behind like their Prison Warden?

Let my kid walk? Are you crazy? They're too slow and it's TOO MUCH WORK TO WATCH THEM!

Walking is a critical and essential part of childhood development. Practicing those gross motor skills gives that young brain a workout far greater than any of us adults can match. A 3 year olds' brain is twice as active as an adults (I read this today in a neurologic magazine). When a child learns to walk, it's a brand new skill for them that's exciting and fun and thrilling to practice! How do you react now when you learn something new? How many hours straight did you play Guitar Hero? What about Wii? Remember the first time you rode a bike without anyone holding onto the back? You didn't want to stop. Ever.

When a child graduates from crawling to walking, it's a new skill that they desperately want to practice. And for the sake of their development, they NEED to practice walking. But unfortunately the trend of denying them this important pleasure is evident everywhere.

Having your child on a Child Harness will not help you do your errands any faster. In fact, it's guaranteed to slow you down. But maybe that's a good thing. Go at your child's pace for a change. Absorb the colours and lights and sounds and smells around you just like your child is doing. Let them walk safely beside you, let them burn off that extra energy, let those neurons in their brains fire away, let them practice their new skills of balancing, walking and running.

And when they get tired, you've got their stroller and their favourite blanket right there waiting.  

No comments:

Post a Comment