Tag: child development

The Vestibular System and Child Development

~ Kate ~ Leave a comment

Did you know the vestibular system is our body’s first sensory system to develop in the womb? It is controlled by the inner ear, and it is incredibly important.
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A well-developed vestibular system allows children to have the postural strength to sit at a desk, or to control their arm muscles when writing. Stimulating the vestibular system improves fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The vestibular system even helps to develop eye muscle movements that are required to track words when reading.
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The thing is, in order to develop the vestibular system, children need to MOVE. Running, or playing a short physical game may stimulate the vestibular system to a small extent. But since this important sensory system is stimulated by fluid in the inner ear, what children really need to be doing is swinging, rolling, going upside down, tumbling, jumping from heights, falling, clambering and climbing. Unstructured, risky, physical play.
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When we impose rules like ‘no running on the playground’ or ‘no going up the slide’ or ‘you cannot climb that’ we are hindering the development of this important system. It’s completely counter productive to tell children to stop moving and sit still – they will not develop the muscle and posture control they need to sit and work unless they spend their childhood MOVING!

Distance Learning in Isolation

~ Kate ~ Leave a comment

I hope that parents who are caught up in the chaos of distance education right now understand that this is not a normal way to educate, and it’s not an ideal learning environment for children. It’s not homeschooling, it’s distance learning in isolation. Teachers are working hard to adapt to a stressfully impossible situation but they too know this is not how children learn.

I’ve heard that many schools are implementing full days of online learning every single day of the week, meaning that students have to sit, desk-bound, at their computers for the entire day with a few breaks. It is not normal, nor is it healthy, for children have such a sedentary lifestyle. We know that screentime has an effect on children and teenager’s brains, and we know that sitting at a computer for an entire ‘school day’ at home is not going to be doing their bodies or minds any favours. Children need to move, chat, solve a problem by holding and touching it, build things with their hands, be in nature, have people to bounce ideas off, use concrete materials, exercise visual and spatial skills, and did I mention they need to MOVE?

It’s no wonder parents are finding this tedious and stressful, and that their children are unsettled or unstimulated. So if you’re a parent currently in the throes of this, be gentle with yourself and with your children (and the teachers), and remind yourself that is is not, ideally, how children learn. Take a deep breath, turn off the computer, go outside or just snuggle up and read with them. You are teaching them how to live amid a worldwide crisis. And most importantly, you are teaching them that they are loved and safe no matter what the situation or where they are.