Learning to walk: Trial and error – and perseverance

Training children’s motor skills begins right after birth

The training of a child’s motor skills begins right after birth: Holding a baby in your arms and carrying it around with you starts an important training process.

Muscles and connective tissue can only develop further through the alternating pressure load that occurs during hopping, climbing and running.

Mobility and training

The training of a child’s motor skills begins right after birth: Holding a baby in your arms and carrying it around with you starts an important training process. The little one first learns to hold on, to hold its head and to balance itself – all the basics for learning to walk later on.

Challenge to our perception and coordination of movement sequences

When we walk, our entire weight rests on our feet, although their surface area in contact with the ground is comparatively small. They have to provide a very complex balance of strength, elasticity, mobility and sensation with every movement. Hundreds of muscles, but also many tendons and bones, are activated with every step – the whole body turns with it, while the head is usually held in the direction of walking.

Regular training required

It is necessary to train the little feet regularly, because only through the alternating pressure load that occurs during hopping, climbing and running can the muscles and connective tissue develop in such a way that at the end there is a young person with a healthy body feeling and great dexterity who likes to move in a self-determined way. Every newly trained movement sequence builds on what has been successfully learned before! For example, the child must first learn to grasp firmly and hold on – only in this way can it succeed in pulling itself up on furniture and successfully stand on its own. Then it can start to take its first steps to the side. Eventually, the wonderful day will come when it can stand on its own and dare to take its first steps forward.

Detailed blog post:
Mobility requires motivation and training