W-sitting

Aaahh, What? W-sitting??? Ok, this is one of the big issues from my therapy days. W sitting is referring to the position of a child’s legs when they sit on their bums with their knees bent and their feet out to either side of their hips. I see the light bulbs coming on. I know you have seen this somewhere before. You did it as a kid or know someone who has. Maybe you have seen it in your own kiddo.

So what? Now that we have a name for it, what’s the big deal? Well, as a mom and as a therapist, it is one of the biggest pet peeves I have. Let me give you a brief run down of why and how to stop your little one from W sitting.

While it may be more common in children with special needs, most children, at one time or another will transition through a phase of sitting in this manner. All children should be discouraged from sitting in a W formation. What the child gets from W sitting is a greater sense of stability. To sit this way provides trunk and hip stability. This allows them to have more control over the toy in front of them. One problem is that it limits their ability to transition into different positions during play. So this makes it difficult to move within their space, change positions or reach for a different toy. When the child consistently sits and plays in this position their development of lateral trunk muscles is hindered. Why is that an issue? Well, this will make it more difficult for them to run and play in gross motor activities on the playground or in sports and this will make it more difficult for them to sit at a desk and attend to a classroom task. Not to mention the effect that it will have on the hips and knees from an orthopedic perspective.

Ok, here is some therapy jargon for you. To have distal control, one must have proximal stability. Blah blah blah. What did she just say??? What that means is that to have good control of a pencil or a crayon that is held in the distant or distal part of the body/arm, there has to be good muscle control and a certain amount of strength in the body parts that are proximal or close to the trunk or base of the body. So if you decrease the amount of time your kiddo is sitting in a W shape, in theory they will develop stronger muscles on the sides of their body throughout their hips and shoulders and this will in-turn give them better control over things in their hands. Things like toys, balls, crayons and pencils.

That covers the why, now lets talk about the how. I’m not saying you have to be on top of your kid every minute and send them to time out for sitting the “bad” way. Just keep an eye out and know in the back of your mind that it will help them in the long run if you correct it early. The first few times you can just give them some suggestions of other ways to sit.

Like sitting with legs crossed.

Or they can side sit.
Or there is long sitting. You can manipulate or move their legs into a better position and model or show them how you can sit correctly. “See how Mommy sits.” After several times, usually a few days or so, a simple verbal command will be enough. “Fix your legs please” and voila. No need to loose any sleep over it, sleep is way too hard to come by.