Keeping our daughters' natural posture intact

Dear veggiemom - have a look at what you did to correct/retrain your body into WWPosture, and apply those adaptations you made to protect your children from losing their posture.

Observe how your young daughter holds every aspect of her posture....most people end up with their heads forward, chin tilted up to look at things, and while they walk and stand, run etc... as well as the other compromises in posture.

Encourage bare feet as often as possible and wide fitting flexible flat shoes so that her toes are not squashed together, & cross - legged sitting on the floor, and no slouching in chairs...we lose our torso strength and hip turn out so quickly... no really tight or restrictive clothing...

Use the dancing on Christine's 1st Aid DVD to dance with your daughter - some of the mothers here do that and really enjoy the fun together. It is very like Scottish dance.

Before WW & what I now know about posture,my girls went to a community dance group to do a type of jazz ballet but I found that the loud music was intolerable - the teachers yelled over the music to be heard, so my girls didn't do this for long,as I was very concerned for their hearing.

If my girls do something now, I know enough to tell them what to look out for & I think my youngest is listening to some of it.
Some teachers are inflexible regarding posture and I think ballet would fall into that category.

Some teachers and styles are strict, partly because they are trying to avoid litigation in the mistaken belief that suck and tuck protects the back.

Other styles of dance may be more flexible, though in my research for dance for me the Irish or Scottish dance is the best option, though I think their shoes should be wider at the toes....

Christine's Blossom series of videos are a great tool for further knowledge on how to hold our posture including running which is something I love to do now having never wished to before WW.
I found myself babysitting today and was pleasantly surprised just how strong, agile, balanced and light I felt while playing chasing games outside with me in bare feet up on toes. Just wonderful! This child also naturally sat cross legged so I did the same...can do it longer and longer now!

Have fun with your children and I will picture you dancing, sitting cross legged, and playing chasing games with them!

All the best,
Aussie Soul Sister

Thanks so much for this thoughtful post, Vmom,

It is my intention to change the world of dance through the WW work. I am delighted to say that tomorrow I will be working with a wonderful and well-known dancer from our community who is suffering chronic hip pain.

I have a great quote from a Russian ballet teacher (can't find atm) saying that the worst thing you can do to a young dancer is to teach her to tuck.

I would say to allow your children to gravitate toward their own interests, and then perhaps plant the WW bee under the instructor's bonnet. That is what I did.

:-) Christine

A retired (but young!) ballerina attended our WW conference this year. She had a hip replacement and the havoc (and horrific pain) it caused with her gait was just tragic. We could work with her to a point, but in certain cases deformities become set in stone.