Guide For Parents On Coarse Motor Development – Parenthood

Gross motor development is very important in the development of children. It is therefore essential that parents help their children to develop properly through activities and movements and, above all, by understanding well what it is and why it is so fundamental in the life of the little ones or any other person. .

The process that children go through from learning to lift their heads as infants and run when toddlers until they play sports in school is known as gross motor development. Coarse motor skills are an important part of the general physical development of children.

Rude motor development

Children develop gross motor skills when they learn how their body works  and how they can move and control it. Coarse motor skills should develop during childhood and up to the early years of primary school.

During infancy, it is important for young children to develop skills such as  muscle strength, balance, core strength, postural control, stamina and coordination. 

Children naturally grow from the center of the body outward. This means that they need to build up strength in their core and core before they build it up in their arms and legs.

Therefore, fine motor skills, such as finger strength and control, depend on the prior development of the child’s gross motor skills.

These  can develop in different ways during childhood, mainly through free play. Thus, planning movement activities with your children allows you to work on specific skills for them, such as balance or catching and throwing.

Why is coarse motor development important?

If children do not have well-developed gross motor skills, certain limitations may arise:

• Low concentration in class.
• Low body awareness and control.
• Difficulty writing.
• Difficulty sitting at a desk.
• Poor posture, coordination and balance.
• Avoid sports and physical activities.

Over the years, there has been  a tendency to replace children’s free time from play with all types of additional activities. While it is possible to send your children to swimming lessons or any other occasional additional activity, your 4 year old does not need to attend art, dance, life skills lessons. the ball, etc.

These activities replace children’s play time, which is vital for the development of gross motor skills. As for the time spent in front of screens, even if today it is impossible to prevent children from being exposed to them, as a father or a mother,  you can control the time he spends with new technologies. .

Your 3-year-old doesn’t need to be sitting at their tablet in the afternoon. Rather, he should be running outside or doing silly things; he should be learning. Any online program  , as incredible as it promises to be, will never replace play. In other words: the  more freely your children play, the more they will learn.

Activities for gross motor skills

There are two main ways to develop your child’s gross motor skills:

• Activities guided by adults.
• Free play.

When children play freely, they develop a lot of gross motor skills, such as:

• Run, walk, gallop, pursue.
• To crawl, to get up, to reach.
• Jump.
• Catch, throw, push.
• Hit, bounce, cross, roll.

• Climb, hang, hold.
• Balance and coordination.

Also, activities led by adults are a great way to teach motor skills. It means playing with your child.

Additional activities such as dance lessons are also part of these guided activities. They can be invaluable when done moderately and when they don’t replace too much free play time.

Provide rough motor development opportunities

As a father or mother, you must be able to provide endless opportunities to develop these skills at home. Therefore, find the right balance between doing activities of this type and playing with your children, also letting them play independently.

When choosing an activity to do with your little one, choose a particular skill to work on. Then observe these examples: body awareness, hand-eye coordination, balance, agility, strength …

In any case, it is important that you are aware of the importance of gross motor development in your child. In this way, you can  offer him activities that help him strengthen this aspect of his development.

If at any point you realize that your child is having difficulty in gross motor development,  it is important that you go to the pediatrician to share your doubts and concerns. He can help you find the solution to this developmentally difficult situation that your child may encounter at a certain time.