Most people can remember a time where their parents lectured them about the importance of not slouching or seeing videos advertising new workout equipment to build your abdominal muscles. As silly or annoying those instances may be, they were definitely onto something! In fact, strengthening our core muscles and maintaining proper posture is central to just about every activity that humans do. Encouraging your child to move and sit in ways that build that group of abdominal muscles can promote their success in and out of the classroom.
When examining children who have poor core posture, they typically have difficulty keeping their head, wrists, and shoulders positioned properly. This can lead to difficulties when executing fine and gross motor activities like crawling and handwriting. The deficits in fine motor skill seen as a result of poor posture can cause children to fall behind with their learning because they are unable to execute writing/drawing tasks, often need frequent breaks from fatigue of holding themselves up, and tend to move around in their seat a lot, altering their focus. Children may also experience delays in their social-emotional development due to the inability to take part in some kinds of play such as using playground equipment during recess because they cannot support their bodies as well as not being able to support themselves during forms of rough play.
If you are worried about your child’s core strength, it is important to observe their behavior especially when seated. If your child tends to utilize their non-dominant hand to support their head, prop themselves up against the table, slouch, or have difficulty getting up, then it may be a good idea to help them build their core strength.
Helping your child’s core strength doesn’t mean they need to do hours of abdominal exercises everyday, in fact, you can incorporate certain activities into their playtime. Having your child walking on all fours pretending to be different animals or even holding your child’s feet while they walk on their hands are excellent ways to help develop their abdominal muscles.
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Marissa Robarge
UConn KIDS Research Assistant