Bad posture in children can become a lifelong problem. Fortunately, good kids’ posture is something that can be promoted by implementing some posture exercises for kids. As you might learn during your child’s well visits‏, there are many things that can cause bad posture in children, and one of them is excessive sitting. Excessive sitting has become quite common in western cultures due to an increase in television time and less playtime.‏

Good vs. Bad Posture in Children‏

‏Naturally, children have never had problems maintaining good posture. This is because as children grow up, they get up and move around a lot, and they also tend to sit on the floor for prolonged periods without leaning on anything. However, as they go up and start going to pre-schools and watching more TV, all this will change. Chairs and long periods of sitting await them, which can be the beginning of your child’s posture problems. ‏

‏Unfortunately, what starts as merely bad children’s posture might lead to spinal degeneration, muscular problems, and chronic pain if you don’t step in and assist your child. Therefore, it is crucial to find out about posture exercises for kids so you can avoid these problems. You can also get to know about children’s posture problems by taking them for child well visits. Read on to find out more about good vs. bad posture and how to get a toddler to change their posture.

Asian Kid With Scoliosis, Isolated on White Background

Leave Your Child to Get Up Naturally‏

‏This might sound far-fetched, but it’s one good way to help your child avoid a lifetime of pain. Imagine how you get out of bed yourself. Naturally, you would roll over and stand instead of lifting yourself up while lying on your back. Trying to do the latter will put a lot of pressure on your neck. The good news is most toddlers will learn to roll on their side and get up independently. However, there are some instances where a parent’s interference can cause a toddler to learn unconventional methods of getting up. How they get up in the morning can affect kid’s posture and lead to problems.‏

‏For instance, how you help your child stand after changing their diapers can confuse them. Do you help the child up by pulling their hand, or do you put your hands under their armpits and lift them up? This is not advisable. Instead, you must let your child instinctively roll to the side and put him or herself on all fours while getting up. This will help them maintain the length of their backs. If you try to interfere with this process, all you will achieve is to disrupt an inherently good use of their bodies. ‏

‏Getting up without rolling to the side can cause tightening of the neck. If this is prolonged, it can lead to pain and tension throughout the body, which might cause postural problems. Fortunately, most children know how to get up naturally unless you interfere. If you notice that your child is struggling to get up the right way, pass this knowledge onto them by helping them get up the proper way. You can also help them do some posture exercises for kids.‏

Get Your Child to Sit Chairs With no Back Support.‏

‏This is one of the more effective methods when it comes to how to get a toddler to change their posture. It is also a good way of helping your child strengthen their back and torso. If your child keeps sitting on chairs with back support, they might end up developing a tendency to lean back rather than use their muscles for sitting upright. Leaning can limit the development of their back muscles and cause kids posture problems in the future. Instead, get your child to sit on a chair without a backrest more often. This will eliminate the trigger and help them strengthen and support muscles that would otherwise become underdeveloped.‏

‏As they sit on a stool, encourage your child to sit straight. If they can’t do it for long, they can try doing it for at least five minutes at a time. Once the activity becomes easier, they can start doing it for longer and more consistently. This is very good for child posture. Show them how they can sit straight and avoid sitting slumped over on the stool. This can be even more detrimental to children’s posture than sitting in a chair with back support. ‏

‏Sitting up straight with no backrest is an effective exercise to do with your child. Once they master it, have them sit this way as they are watching TV or playing with toys. You can find out more about this technique by taking your child for child well visits.‏

Encourage Your Child to Move Around Every 30 Minutes‏

‏If left unmonitored, children can easily become locked into the TV, and they won’t want to do anything else but watch shows all day. This is bad for child posture, and you should avoid it as a parent. To avoid future child posture problems, try getting your child up and moving around every 30 minutes. This can even become a rule you can enforce in your house. There are many ways to monitor your children and enforce this. ‏

‏For instance, you can set the alarm on your mobile device and redirect your children to another activity once 30 minutes has passed. This might seem difficult when you are starting out, but it has to be done. You can also just tell them to get a break or get a snack. With time, it will become easier to monitor how much time they spend on sedentary activities. Believe it or not, having your child move around a lot can do a world of good for their posture. This can be the difference between good vs. bad posture for your child.

Little Children Practicing Yoga Indoors

Bring Food up to Their Mouth When Feeding Them‏

‏If you want to know how to get a toddler to change their posture, this is another good method. Try to note what your child usually does during mealtime. Are they bringing their head down towards the food, or are they bringing it up to their mouth? If they are doing the former, then it’s time to step in and help them. Eating like this will shrink their spine and greatly affect their ‏ ‏posture‏. It also puts unnecessary tension on your child’s body. ‏

‏Instead of your child having their head hunched over their food and constantly pulling down on their developing spine, they must bring the food to mouth level. Teach your child how to extend their arms outward and eat properly. You might notice that they will spill their food at first, but as they keep learning to eat like this, they will master it in the end. Apart from postural benefits, it is also a good way to improve their balance and coordination, so it’s a win-win!‏

‏What do you think of our tips to help your child improve their posture? If you are facing problems with your child’s posture and you don’t know where to start, these tips can be greatly helpful. You can also get in touch with us for help and more information. We have been helping children with postural problems for many years, and we will give you the best advice. To get notified whenever we post more articles like this one, feel free to subscribe to our mailing list. ‏