Our toddler Little Miss has a very awkward running style, and it worries me. She runs with her head down almost looking at her feet, and she swings her whole upper body and not just her arms.
This leads to both a very ungainly and slow running style and a nasty habit of running into things because she isn’t looking where she is going.
Now I don’t want to be one of those pushy parents who demands athletic competence from a two and a half year old, at the same time I don’t want my daughter to grow up being the last one picked for every athletic endeavour. Although that may have something to do with me being the fat kid who generally was picked 3rd last (not quite last, there was always someone with slightly less talent, or maybe just slightly less popular, than me) for pretty much my whole sporting life.
Of course being a bloke this scared me dramatically to the point now where I refuse to engage in online gaming in case I don’t get picked for any of the clans, or whatever they are called. Maybe it is different for girls, maybe no one will care as long as sports is a stupid thing amongst girls or something. I wouldn’t know, never having been one.
Then again maybe they will tease her so much that she will develop an eating disorder to compensate for her poor running style - I just don’t know.
But I do know that over the weekend I am taking her to the park, and we are going to run and chase a ball or something. Maybe then she will learn to run properly, and maybe I will have a chance at being one of those parents of an athlete that lives vicariously through them while at the same time taking 20% of their earnings as their ‘mentor’.
Dare to dream
Tuesday, August 28th 2007
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amusing the kiddies, bad daddy, parentingAutomatic Social Bookmarking
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amusing the kiddies, bad daddy, parentingAutomatic Social Bookmarking
Being non-athletic and picked almost last is just as bad for girls as it is for boys. But almost all 2.5 year olds run funny.
Princess looks at her feet too. She swings her arms like a middle-aged power walker and kinda kicks her feet out to the side as she propels herself forward.
Little Miss will love spending time outside running and playing with you. Just give her another year or 2 before worrying about her form too much.
My little Caitlin runs haha-funny. She’d run with her hands at her chest height, twists her upper body in opposite direction of her lower body, like doing the twist while running…
But when she first discovered the concept of “run”, she would run lifting her knees up quite high, while not really gaining much distance.
I agree with T with Honey. They are loving the outdoors, and I read somewhere that this, as well as encouraging them to walk up the stairs (and not be carried up all the time) will encourage them to lead more active adult lives.