Help Your Toddler Develop Motor Skills On Time

“You are so old and can’t even catch a ball properly. And what is this thing with you falling here and there? You are so clumsy! Can’t you just balance yourself?” 

I recently overheard this in the park. It was the voice of my exasperated neighbour scolding his son at the latter’s failure of efficiently playing the game. At the superficial level, it was just another regular conversation between a parent and a child. However, I just couldn’t ignore it and started watching the child. He looked disinterested to play any further because he could not do what his father was expecting out of him. His body’s response to the approaching ball was not quite apt. I knew the child has been doing very well in academics at school. The only reason he lost any marks was because of his handwriting. In fact, his mum often complained about his handwriting and the fact that there’s no improvement despite a lot of effort.

I was touched by the sadness on the child’s face in the park that evening. So, I came back home and started doing some research. And I soon discovered that the issues he was struggling with could be due to his motor skills. Our motor skills determine our ability to complete basic everyday tasks requiring hand-eye, finger-finger, hand-finger, and body-hand-eye coordination.

While most kids master these skills, we overlook the degree of efficiency, blaming it on the child’s lack of interest or inability. This results in parents comparing their children to other children or accepting that God has not blessed them with a talented or smart kid. On the other hand, the kids receive negative energy from their surroundings through their parents or teachers. Their self-consciousness also brings down their confidence drastically because of their inability to perform a task flawlessly, 

Although each child is special and will follow their own path, parents strive to make their lives as easy as possible. And, that effort needs to start very early in life.

There Are Two Types Of Motor Skills: Gross Motor Skills And Fine Motor Skills. 

While gross motor skills develop by six years, the developmental stages for fine motor skills continue until eight years. Therefore, there’s no time to procrastinate. As soon as a baby is about six months old, we can start introducing the right kind of toys and engage with them in various ways to stimulate the development of their sensory organs constantly. 

With the baby reaching different developmental milestones, the toys in the rack should keep changing based on their needs. However, it is not just the physical stimulants that help a child reach every milestone efficiently or master their gross and fine motor skills. They need enough stimulation for their emotional and cognitive development too.

And to make this simulation work effectively, every effort in the early years of life has to be complemented with the proper intake of nutrition. This can be obtained from a variety of food types in our meals and health drinks if required.

As a mother, I am often unsure if I can provide my son with everything that he needs for his physical and mental development. I’ve always depended a lot on Legos because they can really challenge a child’s creative imagination and help them build things with or without rules. For nutrition, I have depended on the basic Indian diet and supported it with nutritional drinks, like Junior Horlicks, added to his daily dose of milk.

#Junior Horlicks includes nutrients that support brain development, such as choline, iron, and iodine. It also contains nutrients that support physical growth, such as calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin K, and proteins, and also nutrients to support healthy immune function such as Vitamin E, A, Selenium & Copper. This goes a long way in preparing my child for growth and development and significantly improves the quality of living.

The choice is ours, but the need for the hour is very high. So, please make sure you are providing the right kind of environment for your child to be challenged and stimulated enough, so they can develop happily and efficiently. As is rightly quoted by someone, “The first five years have so much to do with how the next 80 turn out.”

# Junior Horlicks is a nutritional food supplement which as part of daily diet helps meet your child’s nutritional requirements. This product is not an infant milk substitute or infant food for less than 2 years old. This product is not a meal replacement.

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