Posture training for children?

[GracieJane]

My children slouch, as do I. 😞

I bought a posture corrector for myself, which is a modern miracle (!); now I would like to address my slouchy children.

What is the best way to habituate „stand up straight“ in kids short of nagging? What mental visual should be used („imagine a string pulling up your head“ or the like)?

[drjuliadc]

My mother reminded me a lot and didn’t allow me to slouch. I stand up very upright now and have for years, so I think that worked.

My children have very good posture and I don’t remind them at all. I think they may be modeling me. Their nanny pointed out that they sit and stand up much straighter than most other children she sees. I didn’t even notice that until she pointed it out. It may be because we all get regular chiropractic adjustments too.

I like posture correctors. They are better for far more than your posture, actually. I don’t know about them for kids. I don’t have a bad impression about them for kids, just no impression.

Edited February 19, 2021 by drjuliadc

[Ellie]

1 hour ago, GracieJane said:

My children slouch, as do I. 😞

I bought a posture corrector for myself, which is a modern miracle (!); now I would like to address my slouchy children.

What is the best way to habituate „stand up straight“ in kids short of nagging? What mental visual should be used („imagine a string pulling up your head“ or the like)?

Constant nagging works. 🙂 But in a gentle sort of way, as Southern mothers teach their children to say "yes, m'am" and "no, m'am:" "Dear child, did you pick up your toys?" "Yeah." "Yes, m'am." "Yes, m'am." When your dc slouch, you say, "Stand up straight, dear. Would you like an apple?"

[Rosie_0801]

We've got the trauma/autism related crappy core muscle tone thing happening here. What helps is the sort of gentle exercises they recommend for diastasis recti. Maybe your kids need a bit of pilates or something.

[zibby3]

My friend (and fellow homeschool mom) is a physical therapist and she loves talking about posture! She has a YouTube channel and a bunch of the videos are teaching about posture. She started working on a whole class for kids with worksheets and everything, but I don't think it's finished yet. Here's one of her videos to check out:

 

[zibby3]

12 minutes ago, zibby3 said:

My friend (and fellow homeschool mom) is a physical therapist and she loves talking about posture! She has a YouTube channel and a bunch of the videos are teaching about posture. She started working on a whole class for kids with worksheets and everything, but I don't think it's finished yet. Here's one of her videos to check out:

 

Actually, I just saw that she has a link to get the worksheets in the descriptions of her videos.

[ieta_cassiopeia]

Sometimes, position awareness can be poor. Yoga moves for children help (for much the same reason pilates does), and it's perfectly OK to learn along with them. Just make sure everyone does it gently and you learn them a few (or indeed one) at a time. For the link in this post, do the ones that look useful in whichever order makes most sense to you - the point is to help everyone be more aware of body position and to do the chosen moves well, rather than to master a set repertoire. You are likely to want at least one move involving a straight back and at least one with a curved back, since that's the body part most involved in slouching.

Getting good office chairs may also help, even if they are only used some of the time (e.g. when using screens).

 

Finally, check desk and equipment alignment. Particularly with computers, it's common for screens to be too high or too low, or input devices to be in the wrong place, any of which can result in slouching. Screens that aren't at eye level and input devices not at the level of whatever body part you use to do the input should be moved.

 

All the other ideas in this thread are good too.

Edited February 20, 2021 by ieta_cassiopeia