Zara has started standing and ‘walking’ a bit more nowadays since she took her first step a month back.

Here is a typical process she follows :
1) she pulls herself up using a piece of furniture, our legs, our hair, or anything she could get her hands on and strong enough to support her
2) she finds her balance
3) check out who or where she can walk to
4) she lets go of her hand (from whatever was supporting her) and she’ll raise them above her head
5) finds her balance again
6) trots forward
7) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 .. (depending how well balance she is) into our extended arms, or reach to another piece of furniture, or just *THUD* fall down

On one hand, we’re so excited about her ‘evolution’ from an all fours baby towards a walking todler; on the other hand, we’re worried about her hurting herself, especially her skull, during this ‘transition’ phase.

How did the other parents handle this transition period? Ma Xin, a friend from Beijing (who happened to have a little girl Zara’s age) said she learnt this from one of the baby & parent class she attended:

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It translates to :

When we teach a child to walk, we should protect/guide the child from the front, not the back. We need to teach them when they fall, to fall forward on their knee, and not tumble forward. A lot of babies learning to walk, will plunge forward, this will easily cause injury to the face (or forhead). If we protect the child from the back, we are telling the child it’s ok to lean backwards when she lost balance. This will make the child, while walking, to subconciously fall backwards when they do fall.

The ‘wicked’ method would be, to stand the child on the bed, push the child farward, let the child fall knee down on the bed. She may not like it, but should be quite an effective method.

So, I’m going to try out this method with Zara. To have a gash on the knee, is better than having a bump on the skull, that’s for sure.

Any one has any more ‘proven’ tips?