Children's increasingly sedentary lifestyles are leading to a generation who are not just unfit, but possibly unfit to learn. Simple movements, such as babies stretching and crawling, toddlers running and jumping, and four- and five-year-olds throwing and catching, enable children to tackle such tasks as concentrating, reading and writing once they start school. Without firm foundations children may struggle to gain their full educational potential.
Sally Goddard Blythe, co-director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, says the problems can start in babyhood. 'Modern baby equipment is convenient but does not give babies the opportunity for physical play,' she says. 'The feet-to-foot campaign has been a success for reducing cot death, but it means that babies do not get the same tummy time when they are awake, which helps them to learn how to control their head and neck and upper back muscles, the first part of postural control.'
By being laid on their backs, some children are also not learning to push themselves into a crawling position. Crawling involves moving the four limbs independently and helps nerve cells to develop.
Sitting still
Children are also missing crucial opportunities to develop vital movement skills when they are older. 'It is startling to see how many three-, four- and five-year-olds are still in pushchairs,' observes Tina Bruce, honorary visiting professor at Roehampton University. 'It is important for a child to move freely and get to know themselves in all dimensions. When sitting in a pushchair children are not communicating. They're not learning such skills as not bumping into people, staying on the pavement, standing at a curb, learning not to suddenly run.
'The child stuck in a pushchair will be the child who falls in a pond because they can't judge the edge, or falls up stairs because they have not developed knowing what their body can do.'
Ms Goddard Blythe conducted a study of more than 600 children in six schools in Northern Ireland. She found that 48 per cent of five- to six-year-olds and 35 per cent of seven- to nine-year-olds had immature basic movement skills. They still had traces of baby reflexes, difficulties standing on one leg and problems controlling their static posture.
She says, 'To sit still, a child needs to have sufficient body control. If they lack this it can also affect their hand/eye co-ordination. A knock-on effect is problems with reading and copying. Children with immature physical skills are the ones who then get labelled as "lazy" or "could do better if they tried".'
Out and about
Before children start formal schooling they need to have plenty of opportunity for movement and sensory play, to help prime their physical systems to learn. 'I am concerned that the Government puts in more educational targets when children need to be encouraged to move, not read,' says Madeleine Portwood, educational psychologist at Durham County Council. 'In Scandinavia children start school at seven years old and the dyslexia rates are a tenth of what they are in the UK. They have a more outdoor lifestyle and are developing movement skills such as throwing or kicking balls or climbing. While they are doing that they are developing social skills too, instead of being engaged in solitary play on computer games or watching television.'
Dr Portwood conducted assessments of 400 children aged three to three-and-a-half in Durham and found that 57 per cent did not achieve the expected levels of movement skills for their age. Difficult areas included balancing, standing on one foot and running in a straight line. She has since devised a fun movement programme for early years settings, where children crawl through tunnels, walk over ladders and catch beanbags. Only 6 per cent of those who follow the programme have continued to have movement and balance difficulties.
But they do not have to do structured movement programmes, says Dr Portwood - 'simply to walk along cracks in the pavement, hop and jump over paving stones, or roll a marble between their fingers. We simply need to encourage children to be more active.'
Further Reading:
- The Well Balanced Child: Movement and early learning by Sally Goddard Blythe (Hawthorn Press, £12.99, ISBN 1 903458 63 3, www.hawthornpress.com)
- The Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, www.inpp.org.uk
- 'Lifestyles "delay movement"' by Laura Marcus, Nursery World, 10 January 2008
- 'On the go' by Annette Rawstrone, Nursery World, 21 June 2007.
