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what they need later. This works best when the mother has as little stress and anxiety as possible during pregnancy.

Many innate reflexes are lost again

The upright walk as a milestone

While a child can move around in the weightlessness of the womb in a variety of ways, the gravity that acts after birth makes it an extremely needy being.

It only begins to take effect four to five months later, and another four to five months later locomotion begins. First they crawl, slide or rob, then in the second year a child dominates the characteristic human posture: the upright walk.

There are large differences in the age at which children master motor skills. Some (few) children can walk three-quarters of a year, while others have not taken a step at 20 months.

Many parents are worried about this alleged development lag and they are wondering, like her Can encourage a child to run.

But all attempts are in vain: The development of motor skills is a maturation process that follows physiological laws and can hardly be influenced from outside. A child runs when it can and not a day earlier.

However, there are studies that suggest cultural differences. This allows children from traditional Asian and African cultures to sit and run freely about a month earlier. Some scientists see a different approach to physicality as the reason.

Asian and African Become children worn and touched more often, which can promote body control and perception. While babies in the West spend almost a third of their waking hours lying down, in some African cultures it is only ten percent.

Further motor development can, however, be shaped by the environment and parenting style of the parents. A child who plays a lot outdoors, in playgrounds and in nature develops a different body feeling and motor skill than children who (almost) only stay in an apartment.

And if parents teach their child from the start that the stairs are a forbidden zone, the child may climb stairs much later than a child who can keep trying under supervision.

Language and personality

Intellectual development also progresses rapidly in the first years of life. One indicator of this is the child’s language, which depicts the development with a delay: the child develops an idea of a person, an object or a matter, then understands the word that describes the idea, and finally uses the term itself and pronounces the word.

There are also big differences here: Some children start speaking in the first year of life, others only start speaking at two and a half.

A big step takes place around the 18th month of life, which can be easily understood with a little experiment: You paint your child unnoticed, for example when stroking, with paint or lipstick on the forehead or cheek and then place it in front of the mirror.

If it does not touch the mirror, but touches itself in the face, it is clear: the child has discovered the self. It knows who it is and is well on the way to perceiving itself as an independent personality.

Just as with the motor basics, the same applies to the mental development of small children: It happens when it happens. The possibilities to exert influence are rather slim. As long as the environment is child-friendly and no disabilities or diseases affect development, all children will sooner or later reach the same level of maturity.

Up to the age of around three years, the differences in development become more and more equal, so that everyone is more or less at the same motor and mental level. An amazing biological program that has been proven for thousands of years.

Family: babies and toddlers – family – society – planet knowledge

New section

The upright walk as a milestone

Language and personality

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