Supporting Gross Motor Development
As children begin to move, roll, pull up, and eventually, walk, their muscles are beginning to develop. Even moments that we might overlook such as reaching, grasping, or letting go are all examples of this. Children have an innate need to move in order to discover the world themselves and also that they may become independent. It is important that the adults within a child’s community are creating emotionally and physically safe spaces where this can be undertaken.
This realization often calls for a real act of restraint and patience on the part of adults, as we must work against our impulse to preempt what might be ‘helpful’, without giving the child the opportunity first to explore the activity and see what is possible to be done independently. When allowed some agency within their movements, children are able to explore their own abilities and are also able to learn how to communicate when they do need help. Logically, we know that it is almost impossible to learn how to do something without actually doing it first; as adults, we have to practice doing something (and often doing it unsuccessfully at first) before becoming entirely capable.
A perfect example of this is driving, especially driving a manual transmission car! Before even getting on the road we must first learn the rules of the road, and determine how to read the different signage. Once we are aware of those elements we take lessons from another person during which we drive the car in different areas and learn various skills such as parallel parking, hill starts, or maneuvering in start-stop traffic. The driving teacher often has controls on their side of the car in case of an emergency to keep a student driver safe. But, if the instructor keeps taking control of the car at unnecessary times, the beginner will never learn to confidently drive safely in all circumstances. We need supported practice to become a safe and independent driver!
When children are beginning to develop their muscle control, we adults should be trying to be more like the driving teacher, only applying our controls when there is a risk of danger, and sitting in the driver's seat to show how to do a new skill. The child has spent the first part of their life observing the ‘rules of the road’, and how people safely move their bodies independently. In order to become independent movers themselves, they should actually have the chance to do it!
What we can do to help enable this, and to calm our own nerves, is to create safe environments where these skills can be developed. This can be done through softening sharp table corners, putting rugs down on hard floors, and generally making sure there are no unnecessary risks posed by the space itself. Undertaking the role of preparing the environment is a way we can feel both involved and supported in taking a step back.
We can also bring them to places where physical exertion and exploration is the focus, like a playground, the park, or baby movement class. Or, we can even find soft mats to put on the floor in the home, which can then be used with items like Pikler triangles in order to facilitate climbing and moving in new ways.
As adults, we feel a strong urge to keep children safe; this, of course, is important since they are not born with the ability to fend for themselves! However, our best intentions can inadvertently cause roadblocks for our little ones if they are not given the space to explore unassisted.