Not a still point of perfection, balance is a dynamic activity at every age, and key to preventing falls as we age. Our sense of balance involves three key aspects: our vision and use of the gaze, the leveling sense of our inner ear, and our sense of self-movement in the spaces around our body, including the ground. Two short videos illustrate the themes with suggestions for daily health.
That’s a great story! I’m glad you weren’t hurt, and could laugh it off. You are a fine role model for the little ones, showing that falls happen! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this informative and useful article, Valerie. It's been a perennial topic for me in talking with parents and other teachers about classroom behaviors that include fidgeting, leaving (or falling off of!) one's chair, and bumping into other students. The common plea from adults to "Just sit still!" is a command that requires practice and synchronization of multiple skills. It's a dynamic state, not a static one! For children who have not had the early developmental practice of integrating the three domains, challenges may get in the way of staying in one's seat, remaining still, and gauging the space around them. Particularly overlooked is the role of vision in developing a sense of spatial awareness-- I'm so glad you mentioned it. It is one of the detrimental effects of sitting infants in an upright position before they are able to maintain it independently.
We tend to celebrate benchmarks with an "earlier is better" attitude, but the impact of rushing some stages may not be apparent. I have worked with numerous children who were labelled "dyslexic" because they mixed up the direction of letter and number shapes. Each of them also exhibited immature balance/righting reflexes. When you think about the skills involved in quickly deciphering the direction/shape of abstract symbols (reading) is built directly upon the ability to master that directionality in one's own spatial realm. This is why Waldorf has early learners walk, skip, crawl the shapes of letters, form them with their own bodies, etc. before jumping into decoding text.
Fortunately, the brain is highly plastic, and remedial exercises like those you offer here (LOVE that your objects are so Waldorf-inspired!) can help to "rewire" the vestibular, ocular and proprioceptive systems in a stronger pattern. I have had the grace in my private school years to allow a student (labelled by his previous school as ADHD and "defiant") who continually fell out of his chair to just do his work on the floor, lying on his belly. Other preferred a rocking chair, a hanging swing chair, or a wobbly stool. Incorporating daily walks in nature is probably the best practice at any age: it offers ever-changing terrain underfoot and the opportunity to change our visual focus from near (where my next step will land) to far (the trail ahead, that beautiful horizon, is that a snake? etc.)
I'm noticing some young people I worked with in kindergarten experiencing a second awkward stage in high school as their physical bodies change dimension with every growth spurt. My aging mother is also experiencing frequent balance challenges as her posture stoops her over, changing her center of balance, her inner ear "level" and her range of vision. I will be making her a wool ball of her own and forwarding a link to your exercises. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and creativity!
I fell while teaching toddlers on the playground. Walking briskly, my attention several yards distant, I stepped on a toy block semi hidden in the grass. It seemed to me that there was a very long time where my un-balance travelled up my body, during most of which the fall was not yet inevitable. I leaned further and further to the side plane, the whole while waiting for my muscles to realign and correct. To balance me. I was 45 ish yrs old and had been strength training and practicing yoga for years. Still fell! I even had time and the mental focus to yell out "I'm going down!" in a comic attempt to let the other teachers know so they could (how!?!) clear any nearby toddlers from the path of the falling teacher. Might as well have yelked "Timber!"
I was unhurt and have no recollection of contact with the ground or of getting up. Just laughing in wonder at how my middle aged brain & body choreographed such a spectacle in a place where toddlers took tumbles every few minutes.
That’s a great story! I’m glad you weren’t hurt, and could laugh it off. You are a fine role model for the little ones, showing that falls happen! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this informative and useful article, Valerie. It's been a perennial topic for me in talking with parents and other teachers about classroom behaviors that include fidgeting, leaving (or falling off of!) one's chair, and bumping into other students. The common plea from adults to "Just sit still!" is a command that requires practice and synchronization of multiple skills. It's a dynamic state, not a static one! For children who have not had the early developmental practice of integrating the three domains, challenges may get in the way of staying in one's seat, remaining still, and gauging the space around them. Particularly overlooked is the role of vision in developing a sense of spatial awareness-- I'm so glad you mentioned it. It is one of the detrimental effects of sitting infants in an upright position before they are able to maintain it independently.
We tend to celebrate benchmarks with an "earlier is better" attitude, but the impact of rushing some stages may not be apparent. I have worked with numerous children who were labelled "dyslexic" because they mixed up the direction of letter and number shapes. Each of them also exhibited immature balance/righting reflexes. When you think about the skills involved in quickly deciphering the direction/shape of abstract symbols (reading) is built directly upon the ability to master that directionality in one's own spatial realm. This is why Waldorf has early learners walk, skip, crawl the shapes of letters, form them with their own bodies, etc. before jumping into decoding text.
Fortunately, the brain is highly plastic, and remedial exercises like those you offer here (LOVE that your objects are so Waldorf-inspired!) can help to "rewire" the vestibular, ocular and proprioceptive systems in a stronger pattern. I have had the grace in my private school years to allow a student (labelled by his previous school as ADHD and "defiant") who continually fell out of his chair to just do his work on the floor, lying on his belly. Other preferred a rocking chair, a hanging swing chair, or a wobbly stool. Incorporating daily walks in nature is probably the best practice at any age: it offers ever-changing terrain underfoot and the opportunity to change our visual focus from near (where my next step will land) to far (the trail ahead, that beautiful horizon, is that a snake? etc.)
I'm noticing some young people I worked with in kindergarten experiencing a second awkward stage in high school as their physical bodies change dimension with every growth spurt. My aging mother is also experiencing frequent balance challenges as her posture stoops her over, changing her center of balance, her inner ear "level" and her range of vision. I will be making her a wool ball of her own and forwarding a link to your exercises. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and creativity!
I fell while teaching toddlers on the playground. Walking briskly, my attention several yards distant, I stepped on a toy block semi hidden in the grass. It seemed to me that there was a very long time where my un-balance travelled up my body, during most of which the fall was not yet inevitable. I leaned further and further to the side plane, the whole while waiting for my muscles to realign and correct. To balance me. I was 45 ish yrs old and had been strength training and practicing yoga for years. Still fell! I even had time and the mental focus to yell out "I'm going down!" in a comic attempt to let the other teachers know so they could (how!?!) clear any nearby toddlers from the path of the falling teacher. Might as well have yelked "Timber!"
I was unhurt and have no recollection of contact with the ground or of getting up. Just laughing in wonder at how my middle aged brain & body choreographed such a spectacle in a place where toddlers took tumbles every few minutes.