Crawling, creeping, walking, jumping, running, riding tricycles, using the hands and fingers in dressing and undressing, and other motor skills follow somewhat an average trend in development in all children. However, children often vary as to the ages when specific skills begin to be evidenced. Some even reverse the order in which specific performances appear, and certain children are late bloomers in development.
The development of locomotor behavior which leads to walking comes about gradually. At birth the infant cannot hold his chin llP. but in abvut four weeks he or she can do this for brief periods of time. In the second month the chest can be raised, and at four months of age the infant can sit in an upright position if given support. The average baby can sit alone around the seventh month, and the development of this skill is followed by the ability to stand with help a few weeks later.
Walking
Walking, with some aid, follows after the period of crawling and/or creeping. The baby usually can stand alone before he or she learns to walk by himself at about fifteen months of age. Of course some babies walk much earlier than this, and some later. As a general rule, the child who is advanced in his ability to creep before ten months, as compared with the average child, will walk before fifteen months, However, some babies become so efficient in their creeping that this in itself may delay walking. Some children never creep at all, some never even crawl around on their abdomens, but just sit around until they grow enough to stand alone and, later, to walk.
A number of factors, such as weight, illness, arid motivation, may play a part in determining the age of walking. If the baby is carried around much of the time or has become very efficient in creeping, his desire to learn to walk may be delayed. Can the "age of walking" be hastened through training? The practical answer is "no," Many experiments lead to this answer, most of the studies having been made on twins, with one twin receiving training and the other being left alone. Walking is one skill the child will "grow into" through maturation. The same holds true for riding behavior. Most children can easily learn to ride a kiddy car around two years of age and a ::ricycle about six months later.
Grasping
If you observe a child about six months of age trying to pick up a .:!ock, a peanut, or any other small object, you will most likely be pressed by his or her inability to use the fingers successfully; the ject is grabbed in an awkward way with the palm of the hand. Through maturation the infant goes through stages of scooping the :!ock in with the whole hand, followed by a crude manipulation of the fingers and thumb in grasping. It's not until the child is about one year of age that one can pick up the block with the thumb and two forefingers without resting the hand on the table. Such observations remind us that motor skills develop slowly and that we should not try to force the child to be precise in movement while growth is still playing the major role in development.
Undressing and Dressing Skills
On the average, children begin to show an interest in learning to undress themselves at about eighteen months of age. At two years the ild does a rather good job of it-scattering clothes all over the place.
Dressing involves more motor coordination than does undressing, but certain parts of the process. such as slipping on shoes and holding an arm or leg for the clothing to be put on, start at about eighteen months of age. By two years of age the child can help put on or her coat and by three the child shows interest in buttoning clothing or tying shoes, but without much success. Four-year-old dren can do a rather good job of dressing with only a little help. Between five and six years of age they begin to tie shoelaces, which is, by the way, a'very difficult motor skill to acquire.
