Did your child skip crawling?

This discussion keeps coming up lately - forums, conversations, even an invite to be interviewed for the news (I declined). The topic? How skipping foundational movement patterns like crawling can have long-term effects.

Interestingly, as a baby, my oldest barely crawled before he took off running at eight months old. And once he started, that was it. If I asked him to grab something from upstairs, he was gone before I finished my sentence. Heading to the car? Already buckled in. The PT suggested that running ay have been easier for him than walking because the forward momentum kept him going.

Fast forward 13 years and he is an incredibly skilled athlete. But despite his speed and talent, he struggles with core strength and balance. He couldn’t even balance on one foot his core was so weak, yet he could outrun kids 5 years older than him. The problem hid behind his athletic ability for so long that no one thought to look for it until injuries started stacking up.

We're now focused on reinforcing the basics, including activities, like crawling, to build up those fundamental skills he missed early on.