How We Learn to Sit
(This Much)
Back in the day, in the pre-smartphone and pre-Game Boy era, if you had kindergarten-aged children around, you might notice that they could rarely stay in one place for long, much less sit still. They were always on the move. If we set a time-lapse camera on them, I don’t think there’d be too many moments in the video that weren’t just a blur of activity.
These days, we often observe our older kids stuck to their electronic devices for what may seem like hours without making a single attempt to move. Set a time-lapse camera on them now, and it will look like a still image through most of the video.
A lot of parents use the hypnotizing power of smartphones as a husher and anchor for their kids, occupying their natural curiosity for exploration with never-ending YouTube videos and randomly suggested posts on all their social platforms. I bet my mom would have loved to have one of those “helpers” when I was growing up.
No, I’m not one to reminisce about the “good old days” just because it makes me feel more comfortable with myself. I can still catch up with most modern trends, and I do sincerely enjoy all my electronic devices. I just had to set a reliable point of reference to a time when the global use of smart devices didn’t have such an impact on our kids’ behavior. In a minute, you will know why I did this.
Establishing the Habit
Do you remember your first days at school? Perhaps you don’t remember first grade, but I bet you can recall at least one time you returned to school after a long summer break.
At first, the class periods seemed to be so long, and it was so hard to remain at your desk. You fidgeted your legs, getting the jitters. You needed to get out and do anything but sit. (Once again, I’m talking about a time when we didn’t spend our recess breaks staring at our phone screens.)
A month into the school semester, we could manage sitting through a whole day of classes. We could even easily tolerate a piano lesson or a few extra sessions with a tutor. You were a champion of sitting again, proudly equating your sedentary discipline to an achievement in self-control.
When it’s time for college, you'll have to spend more time at your desk or your computer, researching and writing reports. You may pick up a part-time job or internship at an office, sitting a total of 14 hours a day. Your family is proud of you, though. You think that it’s a temporary situation, and that you don’t mind sacrificing your comfort and wellbeing because it is an investment in your future.
Before you know it, you are 10 years into your career and things are just as hectic as they were 10 years ago. The “temporary” busy-ness has established a permanent residence in your life. Now, sitting is what you do for a living, well, in addition to a few other things that you do while you're at it – things like typing, reading, drawing.
At some point, you’ll have your own kids. You'll teach them to stay still so they can sit long enough to finish their homework. They may resist at first, but, soon enough, they will have the discipline to dedicate themselves to their sitting.
But for now, as you look at your kids playing, dancing to a tune on the radio, having fun in the yard, riding a bike, or jumping up and down on a trampoline, you may envy their energy, their flexibility, and their freedom of movement. “If only I could feel as happy when I move as those kids do,” you may say to yourself.
Why can’t you?
Shall we answer this question?