In my experience as both a parent and a child minder most children learn to walk at around a year.
My eldest son used to combat crawl using his arms to propel himself along the floor, then at about 12 months he began to pull himself onto his feet using the furniture to walk along which strengthened his leg muscles
he walked independently by 15 months.
My 2nd son never bothered with crawling. He would sit on the floor
and point to the toy he wanted and his brother who was 2 years older would oblige by getting him what he asked for, he started to walk aged 13 months.
Many parents use a baby walker to help encourage their children to walk. I never used one mainly because I had a few steps in my house and didn’t feel confident that the children wouldn’t tumble down them in the walker.
My younger sister never crawled instead she used to shuffle along on her bottom until she managed to stand and then walk.
Many children take their first steps with the aid of a push-along toy or by holding the hands of an adult until going alone.
First time parents always seem to be in a hurry to see their children walk, I know that I was excited by this thought, once they do walk they somehow manage to get into everything, so beware:- ensure that your home is child friendly by fitting safety catches on kitchen cupboards and keep cleaning products and sharp items out of reach of tiny fingers. Also use safety gates on stairs.
When I was working as a registered child minder I had the privilege of witnessing a child take his first steps, I couldn’t take this momentous event away from his mother so I never told her. Then when she brought him back after the weekend and told me that he had started to walk, I acted surprised and said “How wonderful, I would look forward to seeing him walk.”
All children walk at different stages so try not to worry and compare your child to friend’s children. Most children will walk when they are ready.
Thanks to Kirsty Butland and Sarah Knight for providing the photos used in this post.
I would be interested to hear other parents experience of their children learning to walk.
As always questions and comments are welcome and please share this on social media.
Karen
x
Lovely blog Karen, such special times your child starts to walk.
Megan walked with her wooden trolley on her 1st Birthday, she might well have done it before, but
she had the trolley for her birthday. xx
Such a lovely post!
Lots of love
Joanne X
http://Www.wingingmamahood.com
Children will walk when they are ready. That’s always been how I looked at it so that’s what I did with my 2 girls. I did however try to encourage them and sort of give them an idea so they know what they can do. My first child had a walker, but from that experience, I noticed that it was not really needed. All she needed was a small safe space or play area where she can try to stand and cruise to let her build her confidence slowly. Eventually widening that safe space for more room to walk until she can properly do it confidently. #LGRTStumble
My eldest daughter was 10 months when she started walking. But my youngest has just started at 13 months. Crazy how different children are x
#lgrtstumble x
#thesatsesh Can I ask if your son who didn’t crawl was slower to write? I ask because my son is a very typical boy, in that he isn’t interested in sitting down, let alone holding a pen and his teacher asked about how he learnt to walk? wondering if there is a collaboration? (or she’s bonkers lol)
Thanks for your question, no my son wasn’t slow to write, he was always very accident prone though, in my experience boys will only take a real interest in school if the topic is something that they enjoy, my son was good at maths, not particularly interested in much else, until they were asked to study work war 2, then he achieved a star, hope this helps
It does, because I did some research and couldn’t find much evidence for what she said. Totally agree – today he came home and loved school, the topic is Dinosaurs:)
Thanks for confirming my theory, I have 4 sons, in total, including a step son and the majority of the children that I looked after when I was a child minder were boys, so I must have learned something about them x
Haha yep you’re certainly an expert (plus you survived)
Thanks
Hello Karen,
I was sitting in our living room talking to some family members when I saw my one year old son take his first steps. He was on his feet, using my knees a support when suddenly, he took 2 steps to move and lean on the edge of the sofa. I could’t help but scream from excitement as I asked our other family members if they also witnessed what I saw.
We also didn’t use any baby walkers. We lived in a small apartment so a baby walker would take up additional space.
Thank you for this post! I hope you’re having a lovely day.
Best,
Sigrid
I found push toys helped my little one. Kids learn in different ways! #bigpinklink
All 3 of mine were different from 11 months to almost 2 years. Apparently I learned when bribed with Smarties. #BigPinkLink
Stopping by again from #triumphanttales
I can totally relate, with my first i was excited by all the milestones and rushing him on in a sense rather than allowing him to develop at his own pace, but now with my 2nd ive noticed im holding back on rushing the stages and allowing him to develop when hes ready #triumphanttales
Cool post. I remember the first time my little one stood up as a momentous one: we were in the park and suddenly there she was- stood up. It was just before her first birthday. As soon as she could walk it was bye bye buggy as she didn’t want to be strapped into anything. Good on you for keeping quiet as a childminder about the first steps
My daughter surprised us all, she hadn’t taken many steps by herself at all but then just started walking one day! #readysetlink
That was very kind of you to not let a mother know that you witnessed her child’s first steps before she did. Not everyone would be that selfless. Thanks for sharing this post on Traffic Jam Weekend!
My youngest is 11 months and is starting to walk around furniture now. to be honest I’m not pushing it as I remember from my other two that the early walking days were when post of the head injuries started!! #fortheloveofBLOG
aww it’s so cute when they start learning to walk! mine was about 11 month old when he mastered it – never kept still since! #readysetlink
This is very sweet. I know first time round I couldn’t wait to see my daughter walk and she had me hanging on for a full 17 months. My second who was far more active and mobile still didn’t walk until 15 months due to the helpful older sibling syndrome. I think you are right, two children shouldn’t be compared and parents shouldn’t worry. Unless there is medical reason you don’t see children starting school and still crawling.
Thank you for joining us at #BigPinkLink
Back with some blogger love, from #itsok xoxo
We kind of just let Isabelle go for it. One think that seemed to help her was climbing the stairs. Good practice for getting those legs going! #Blogstravaganza
They’re all so different aren’t they. My son was around 15 months when he started walking and my daughter was 18 months. It felt very late but I was happy to just let them find their own feet and not worry over it, they all get there in the end.
Thank you for joining the #FamilyFunLinky x
I totally agree. My three boys were all different and they all learnt to walk in their own time. Thanks for linking up with #Blogstravaganza 🙂
Both mine were keen to walk. My first went from standing at around 11 months to walking unaided a week later. My second walked a week after his 1st birthday, again from standing to walking unaided in just a few days. I agree, it gets a lot more trying once they’re up haha! Thanks so much for linking up to the #itsok linky xx
I really enjoyed reading this x it made me think back to when my two were young and taking their first steps.x
#itsok
I do agree that they will walk when they are ready. I’ve always been quite laid back about mine walking. My second daughter didn’t walk until she was 22 months old as she is very hypermobile and has low muscle tone. but this is unusual. My eldest daughter didn’t bother with crawling and moved straight to walking.
Interesting post!
#thesatsesh
My 11 month old took 3 steps today and gigged with delight! It’s so much fu watching them learn at their own pace! My daughter on the other hand only started walking at 14 months. Thanks for linking up to #globalblogging
My daughter was a bum shuffler to start with, then graduated to standing up with a bit of a wobble, then walking. I actually can’t remember when but I’m sure it was about 13 or 14 months. Thanks for linking up to #fortheloveofBLOG
It’s certainly an exciting time – that was really kind of you to not tell the little boy’s Mum about his first steps. Thanks for joining in with #TriumphantTales, hope to see you back again tomorrow.
I was lucky enough to capture my daughter’s first steps on video, such a precious moment. My 2nd child was definitely slower in walking as he’d rely on his sister to get him everything, lol! Thanks for linking up with #KidsandKreativity, I really hope you come back next time. Kerry x
Both my girls started walking at 12 months but my son was only 10 months – and he was properly running too. It was a nightmare! #itsok