Learning to walk – a matter of physical context?

Isn’t it quite human to be proud of own children? -Tell everyone about their first smile, the first word, the first step... especially if they are "early"! But what do we tell if our child is 15 months old and still not interesting in walking? What do we say when people try to comfort us because they assume that something must be wrong whit the child?

We’ve been thought to apply theories in order to understand, but the same theories can prevent us form understand the world in new ways. Take for example Piaget’s stage-theories: Even if his intentions were good (and the way we know him is a result of misunderstandings and misinterpretations (Sjøberg 1996)), his work has for decades resulted in testing and comparing children, disconnected form contexts. “When we separate considerations of individuals from their contexts (and each other), we tend to look for all explanations within individuals” (Graue and Walsh1998) – And this is exactly what happens when we think that something is wrong with a 15 months old that doesn’t walk.

Ten years ago, my son was 10 months old during a cold Norwegian winter. The house we rented at the time had wall-to-wall carpets. When my son crawled he must have experienced the resistance of his knees against the synthetic carpets, fiction and static electricity. On the other hand, the same carpets were good support for his small feet while he was toddling around. Walking was much more comfortable than crawling.

My friend’s son was 15 months in the winter of 2009. It was cold on the naked parquet flooring, and he wore warm woollen tights that covered his diaper and feet. The boy was easily sliding around on his buttocks. He would sometimes stand up, but just when there was something to hold on. I guess he had experienced how frictionless his feet were against the floor … which also was hard when hitting his falling body…

I am sure that the boy knew much about his environment (at least about the floors). If he could speak he could probably reel off much more adjectives about the floor that his mother could. Who dares to say that something was wrong with him because he didn’t walk? How can we ever forget to consider the importance of physical environment in a child’s development and learning?!

Sjøberg, S. (1996). Forstått og misforstått? -- Brukt og misbrukt? Jean Piaget 100 år - Revitalisering av an kritisert klassiker. Det utdanningsvitenskapelige fakultet, Universitetet i Oslo.

Graue, E. M. and D. J. Walsh (1998). Studying children in context: theories, methods and ethics. Thousand Oaks, California, Sage.