Gotta Crawl Before You Can Walk...

Both of my boys are/ were far more interested in walking than crawling. Smarty did the army crawl for 3 months before walking, but he only pushed up to his hands and knees like three weeks before walking. Sweety is following suit. He loves to pull himself up to a standing position. He loves to hold on to someone’s hands and lift his knees and toes clear to his chest. He looks like he’s marching. But he really doesn’t care much for the crawling idea.

I’ve run into a few moms of apraxic kids that say their kids weren’t way into crawling either. It stands to reason, I guess, when you consider all of the motor skills involved. Your brain has to communicate with opposite hands and feet, at the same time, and then immediately switch to the other hand and foot. Not to mention all of the core strength involved with this task.

Sweety’s P.T. says that crawling is so important for those very reasons. It’s great for using both sides of the brain at the same time, and strengthening all the muscles of the body. She says it’s also great for depth perception, because it forces them to explore everything close-up.

I’ve heard the old-wives’ tale that it messes people up if they don’t learn to crawl before they walk. Sweety’s P.T. doesn’t buy it. She says they may be less motivated to learn to crawl if they can walk around. But they won’t loose the benefits as long as they master it at some point. She said we will just have to go on family crawling trips all around the house together. (Woo-hoo; can’t wait for that)