All parents rejoice in the success of their baby. This is especially true of the first such still uncertain and touching steps. This is very pleasing to all households, first steps filmed in order to capture this momentous event. However, it happens that after quite confident independent “walks”, the child descends to all fours again.
Reasons why a child is afraid to walk on their own
- Most often, refusal to walk is associated with fear of falling. Perhaps, during the first attempts, the child fell and hit hard. However, further attempts were also accompanied by a fall and pain. The kid intuitively comes to a safe and familiar method of movement - crawling.
- The second common reason for refusing to move on legs, which can be mistaken for fear, is a child’s trick. The child begins to walk with pleasure and learn the world in this position, to study the surrounding objects. Soon it bothers him, especially if the space for study does not change over time or to a limited extent (they go for a walk with the baby only along the same route or are limited to a playground). The child begins to realize that crawling is less tiring, and much faster, and returns to movement on all fours.
- Parents often used the walkers that are now popular, and the baby is afraid to walk on his own.
- There are no visible reasons for not walking. The child is healthy, did not fall or hurt, but does not walk.
Video: child refuses to walk
Actions of parents when the child refuses to walk
1. Fear of falling
Having found out that if a child is afraid to walk because of the fear of falling, then he should definitely support him in new attempts. Closely monitor the movement of the little man and, if necessary, gently insure him from falls.
Forcing a child to walk with his categorical refusal is not worth it.
It is necessary that the baby forget his negative experience and then return to repeated attempts. In this case, it is advisable to start walking under funny children's poems or songs when walking on the street. Let the child first hold on to his mother’s hand, then on the finger and finally there will come a time when he will go on his own again.
2. Laziness
Lazy and cunning kids, for whom traveling on all fours is faster and easier, should respond with the same - cunning. Favorite toys will come to the rescue.
During games with the child it is necessary to remove the toy higher, in order to get it, the child had to rise to the legs and go up to it. The main thing is not to abandon attempts to “put” the child on his feet and repeat the games again and again.
3.Failure to walkers
It is worth completely abandoning the use of walkers or using them to a minimum. Being in this device slows the motor development of the baby. He simply will not know how to walk without a walker and, as a result, are afraid to move around without them.(Useful article on walkers: FOR and AGAINST walkers - check out!)
4. For no reason
With an incomprehensible refusal to walk, you should be patient and wait. With upright posture, a large load begins to appear on the child's spine. Perhaps your baby is just not physically ready to move on his feet. Some time will pass and the child will not just go, but will run with his little legs.
All children are individual, the most important thing is not to insist and have patience.
Helping the child go: tips
Following a few simple rules will help parents quickly build upright posture skills:
- Do not show your excitement and fear. Kids are very sensitive and begin to worry themselves.
- Do not scold the child. At the same time, children get stress, and fear of walking increases.
- Praise your baby as often as possible. An affectionate word provides an incentive for further success.
- Develop your child physically. Children with whom they did exercises begin to walk without fear.
- Give your baby room for movement. Children limited to the playpen or walkers are afraid to move long distances.
- Show your child positive examples of physical activity - take a walk with him. The child will see children walking and running, and he will want to repeat their movements.
We read a detailed article where we give 10 useful tips on how to teach a child to walk -https://kid.htgetrid.com/en/razvitie-rebenka-do-goda/kak-nauchit-rebenka-hodit-10-sovetov.html
There are problems when a child walks on toes, right here we wrote about the reasons.
The main thing in the development and education of the baby is not to indulge him whims. It is absolutely necessary to refuse to carry a child in her arms. Otherwise, up to three years, the baby will not get off his mother’s warm hands and will begin to walk very late. (related article - how to wean a child by hand)
We read further on the topic of fears in a child
- The child is afraid of loud sounds (why, what to do and how to help)
- Newborn is afraid to swim (reasons and help)
Video: how a child learns to walk !!! Not for the faint of heart 🙂 11 months old baby, first steps 🙂
My girl took her first independent steps in 9.5 months. Our joy knew no bounds, but then she fell a couple of times, and became afraid to walk herself. I did not despair, and carefully monitored the behavior of the child. As soon as she wanted to go, she began to look around and pull the handle so that she would be helped and supported. I immediately gave a hand, and we began to walk around the apartment. Sometimes she even got a run. So 2 weeks passed.Her steps became more confident, and she began to take her hand away, but I did not go one step further, preventing new falls, plus sometimes she took my hand again. So with my help and unobtrusive insurance, about another week passed. And she began to walk without me. Moreover, sometimes she fell, but not much, since she had already learned how to do it right, and even began to pull her hand out on the street - she herself, mother, do not bother!