In the context of motor development, key milestones in the first 3 years of life relate to head control, hand control, and locomotion. Explain how the achievement of self-locomotion has striking cognitive and psychosocial benefits.

Question

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Answer 1

Between 6 and 10 months, most babies begin to get around by creeping or crawling. This achievement of self-locomotion has striking cognitive and psychosocial benefits. Crawling infants become more sensitive to where objects are, how big they are, whether they can be moved, and how they look. Crawling helps babies learn to better judge distances and perceive depth. They learn to look at caregivers for clues as to whether a situation is secure or frightening. Crawling is not technically a motor milestone. Some babies move directly from sitting to walking, sometimes scooting on their bottoms in place of crawling.

By holding on to a helping hand or a piece of furniture, the average baby can stand at a little past 7 months. The average baby can let go and stand well alone at about 11 months. At this point, the baby is ready to learn how to walk. Babies often practice standing and walking more than 6 hours a day, on and off, and may take enough steps to cover the length of 29 football fields! Within a few weeks, the baby is walking fairly well and thus achieves the status of toddler.