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SHARED By: Melissa van Wijk, Director of Tiny Tots Fitness Program at Gymtime

My child is 1-year-old and not walking. Should I be concerned?
In general (and without considering anything else), no. As with anything else, in development there is a range that is considered normal and the same is true for walking. Some children walk as early as 7 or 8 months, while others take their first steps at 16 or 17 months. Many children will walk or be close to walking by 12 months, but certainly not all. I would encourage families to watch for a range of areas of development, such as sitting and standing balance, strength (especially core), coordination and motor control. If your child is progressing nicely in his or her movement abilities, walking will come.

What is the appropriate age for a child to start movement classes?
Sensory and movement activities can start from birth, but for group classes I would suggest 7 months-old. We start the Gymtime Tiny Tot Fitness Program at this age because a class setting is most effective when the children can sit upright by themselves.

When should my baby begin crawling?
That’s a bit tricky. There are those who believe that crawling is not a developmental milestone, and therefore it does not really matter when a child crawls, if at all. And then there are people like me who have a background in movement and value the processes that occur in the body for crawling (depth perception, upper body strength, cross lateral movement to name a few). I use my bag of movement tricks and do my best to inspire infants to crawl (ideally) by 10 months old.