When Was the Last Time You Noticed Your Child’s Posture?
By: Tami Bulmash
Tags: Parenting, Kids, Body, Fitness, Family

When Was the Last Time You Noticed Your Child’s Posture?

How observing their body habits early in the day can offset undesired behaviors later on.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Mornings — with kids — can be hectic. Getting out of the door (on time!) while trying to be mindful of filling their bellies with nutritious food, reminding them about their dental hygiene, and providing them with clean (and matching) socks seems like more than enough to accomplish first thing in the day. However, even with the greatest intentions, in the midst of the rush, there are many moments we often miss with our children. Perhaps most notably, observing the way they eat their first meal.

Take a moment to picture your child as you imagine them munching on their breakfast. Whatever that image looks like in your mind, try to think about what their back looks like while seated in their chair. Are they sitting tall or small? Moreover, how are their heads balanced on top of their bodies? Are they placed forward, centered, or back? Now, try to remember that image as you observe them the next time they sit and eat.

How was your child actually sitting compared to what you thought? Was their back lengthened and tall, or did their spine lean forward and down, leading into a slumped posture? Did their body seem balanced?

What about their head? Were they moving it down towards their food, or bringing the food up to their mouth? Were they hunched over as they ate or trying to over-correct by stiffening and arching their backs, attempting to look ‘straight’?

These questions are important because they can direct you to think about what happens to your child’s body not just as they are eating, but in every activity they take part in. If your child is bringing their head down towards their plate, they are also collapsing as they round their back towards their food. This adds unnecessary tension and pressure to their young and developing spines.

Be mindful, if this is how they start their day, their posture will be further challenged by the amount of time spent sitting in chairs at school, (perhaps also hunched over as they look at their books, tablets and computers). As modern lifestyle has become more sedentary, so do the activities children engage in.

A few years ago, I conducted an empirical study on children and posture and found that on average, children throughout the world spend 26.5 hours a week sitting in chairs at school. They then spend an additional 40 hours a week (outside of school) engaged in sedentary activities (such as computer, phone, TV, iPad, doing homework and eating meals). This isn’t an ideal scenario for developing bodies, let alone for good posture.

With nearly 70 hours a week spent sitting down, the majority of children’s waking hours are spent in sedentary behaviors. During these hours, without being mindful of how they are sitting, they may be rounding their backs, or slouching, as they sit in their chairs.

That is of course, unless some well-meaning adult tries to correct them by telling them to ‘Sit up Straight’! Yet, the problem with commanding the back to be, ‘straight’ is that it’s impossible, since the spine has a natural curvature. This is discussed at greater length in a previous piece about teaching your children good posture habits and I will address it again below, for this notion of a ‘straight’ back has been erroneously associated with posture.

Now, you might be wondering, what on earth can your child do to sit appropriately? To better answer that question, it might be helpful to think about what not to do first. Experiment with yourself as a start. What would happen to your back if you didn’t slouch or arch? What other option would you have? If you’re still stumped for an answer, think up instead, and see if your head can lead your body upward without added strain.