I admit it. When I hit the gym to lift, I hate to do squats. If you lift, then you know squatting targets our biggest muscles, and this requires us to lift the most to fully challenge them. Honestly, I would find excuses to skip squats if I didn’t remind myself these muscles are extremely functional. As we age, this becomes even more important because we are less likely to need the grab bars around our potties. Yes. Squatting is incredibly functional for adults because lower body strength means we can easily get on and off the potty, in and out of bed, and in and out of our Barca loungers.
For children, squatting is equally as functional and significant. But as always, with children, there is more. Lower body control and strength power all the other strengths and skills we at Pivot to Play® see as consistently weaker than they should be and weaker than they used to be. Since children gain control of their lower body before their upper body, they need strong lower bodies so their upper body strength can follow. Consider that children who run are strengthening their lower bodies as they hone the coordination that is required for success. The stronger their lower bodies, the more they can climb. Climbing requires the use of the upper body, thereby building strength and control of arms and hands. A child who struggles to master running is less likely to tackle climbing and will, therefore, lack appropriate strength in their hands, arms, and core.
According to Joanna Chaplin, pediatric occupational therapist, squatting also “increases deep pressure and proprioceptive input from both the squatting position and from weight-bearing through legs and hips.” Further, Joanna says, “This type of proprioceptive input supports more efficient sensory processing.”
To add icing to the cake, that sensory input, through the pressure felt in the squatting position, helps children internalize a sense of force. Understanding force helps kids move with skill, whether it is to kick a ball, climb a tree, or write their names. When children’s brains don’t have enough time to learn what force means, they will make their bodies seek out this information in other ways, most specifically, constant movement, aggressive wrestling, body slamming friends, walls, things, etc. This might look like bad behavior, an inability to self-regulate, or poor self-control but more than likely it is simply the brain screaming for information from the body about what the body is doing and how much force it takes to move and control it.
Joanna also points out, “Moving in and out of a squatting position (squatting to standing and vice versa) helps increase body awareness and improve balance via weight-shifting and changing center of gravity. As children move in and out of squatting, they develop improved head control while changing positions.”
Why is balance and head control important? Children must be able to hold their heads up with comfort and control to sit at a desk, hold a pencil or crayon, or hold a book to read. Balance helps kids sit comfortably at a table, desk, or even circle time.
This all might sound crazy, but today, we see more children who are lacking in these strengths and skills, who struggle to process proprioceptive input in an appropriate way, who can’t sit still, who can’t control and move their appendages in an age-appropriate way. We all know kids can’t multitask, so asking them to attend when they can’t control their bodies or don’t have the strength to use their bodies appropriately is an impossible ask.
Which means school is harder than it should be.
But why is this happening? Why are children struggling with the strengths and skills they need? Because they don’t move enough. And this means they are weaker than they should be. Even for young children, we have moved from a play-based childhood to a technology and phone-based childhood and this means more sedentary behaviors, more stillness, less weight-bearing, multi-plane movement, and more weakness.
If we want to educate children in a developmentally appropriate way, if we want to make school and learning fun, if we want happy classrooms and more success, we have got to get children moving again.
Why Chores Are an Important Part of School
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Joanna Chaplin is a pediatric occupational therapist with First Priority Occupational Therapy in Richmond, VA. Joanna graduated with her doctorate in occupational therapy from Pacific University (Oregon) in August, 2022. Learn more about Joanna and First Priority here.
