58: Holistic Approach to Physical Development with Kailee Noland, PT "The Movement Mama"

How about a holistic approach to empowering your parenting journey?  As a Doctor of Pediatric Physical Therapy and the founder of The Movement Mama, Kailee Noland brings a wealth of knowledge to our latest episode. We talk about her innovative Thriving in the First Year Summit, the true necessities for new babies, and explore the sometimes complex world of baby development,

Kailee shares her journey as both a therapist and a mother and shares her perspective on the importance of allowing children to develop at their own pace and how her courses can offer much-needed support for parents.

From the evolution of the shoe industry towards minimalist designs to the mental health benefits of outdoor play, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Kailee underlines the importance of letting children develop at their own pace and providing an empowering perspective on the beauty and challenges of motherhood. Don't miss out on this enlightening conversation that promises to leave you with a deeper understanding of early childhood development.

For more information visit The Movement Mama and follow her on Instagram @themovementmama

Also, check out more resources on speech, language, feeding and play at The Speech Source and follow us on Instagram @thespeechsource

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For more information on speech, language, feeding and play - visit The Speech Source Website - https://www.thespeechsource.com/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

They're all serving a purpose, which is movement and movement exploration. And movement exploration can never be a bad thing. It can always be beneficial and it's always teaching them something about their bodies. But finding that fine line of how can I push them to continue learning and growing without giving such a big challenge that they're frustrated and they don't want to do it.

Speaker 2: 0:27

Welcome to the Speech Source Podcast. My name is Mary Brazeek and I'm Kim Dillon.

Speaker 3: 0:33

We are two pediatric speech language pathologists with a combined 25 years of experience.

Speaker 2: 0:39

We are your source for speech, language, feeding, play and much more in between. So welcome to the Speech Source Podcast. Today we have a really special guest on. We have Kaylee Noland, who is the creator and founder of the movement mama, and she is a physical therapist and is here to share all of her knowledge and wisdom with us. So, kaylee, welcome to the Speech Source. We're so happy to have you.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Thank you. It's so fun to chat with other clinicians. I love it. I miss it. I'm not in the clinic anymore, so I'm really, really excited to talk to you guys.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Well, tell us what you are doing now, because you have an incredible social media presence and Amazon store and digital courses. You've got so many projects going on. Tell us what's new with you, yeah thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:29

I appreciate that, gosh. It's something that, when it's your own creation, we can be really critical, so I love hearing that it's helped someone else in some small way. But a few years back I was working in early intervention and as a pediatric physical therapist in Kansas City and just kept having the same questions from parents, the same comments of gosh. If I'd just known, if somebody had told me why, like where could I access this information? And it's kind of hard to think back to that time because this was before the whole COVID blow up of clinicians in the social media space but really felt like there was a gap where parents who were very well meaning, very involved in their kids lives just were not getting the information that they needed to make really empowered decisions regarding their baby's development specifically like motor development in my realm and so I just thought I'm going to start this thing on Instagram.

Speaker 1: 2:21

At the time, my inspiration was a couple of different accounts, but there were only a few really that I could can do. Kiddo was like the number one person. She's an OT and I thought how cool that she's doing this. She's just sharing motherhood and she's helping people out along the way, and so I started from there, didn't even know it could be a business, and it kind of just took off, especially through COVID, which was so nice to have that outlet to be able to communicate with parents when they weren't getting the services that maybe they really needed or didn't feel comfortable getting out and getting those services and they needed sort of a bridge in the meantime.

Speaker 1: 2:57

And so I really try to educate in a way that supports families in motor development and their child's motor development, using routines and rhythms rather than giving a long list of homework. That's kind of my passion is educating parents. I was in the clinic for a long time doing that and just really felt called to and excited about being home. We start homeschool with our oldest in the fall I have two little ones. I say they're little ones, they're big ones. Now they're five and three and we have baby number three on the way, due in just about six weeks, which is really exciting. Thank you, I am hitting the exhaustion point now. I've come over the hump of all that nice energy that you get now. It's just the tired, but that's okay, it prepares us right.

Speaker 1: 3:43

But, yeah, I'm like, okay, this is prepping me for when I don't get any sleep here in a few months, so it's fine.

Speaker 1: 3:51

And so just wanted to stay home and feel really, really blessed to be able to still interact with parents and caregivers and help babies through my Instagram account and through my blog and my courses, and then now actually have a wonderful side project that I've gotten into as well, called the thriving in the first year summit, and this is our second year of doing that, but it's basically experts in all realms of pediatric development coming together to educate not only parents but clinicians on a really family centered, holistic approach to care, which gets me really, really excited.

Speaker 1: 4:28

There were so many points before I was a mom that this would have been an incredible resource to know what families are facing, and you know now, even as a third time mom, so much changes and so nice to have all of those experts in one spot. And then I also had colleagues who were very far removed from motherhood and it is going to be such a valuable resource for anyone who's able to join us. So we've got 21 experts, and so it's a really, really low price for 15 hours that you can submit for continuing education. So we're excited and hopeful to really help parents and clinicians thrive in that first year of baby's life.

Speaker 3: 5:06

I love that because part of our mission with the speech source is trying to bring different providers and different experts together and parents and answer some of those questions that families have, because I'm sure that you've experienced too so much as related and I love the idea of that holistic approach. Can you share some of the different areas of providers that are going to be part of the summit?

Speaker 1: 5:29

Absolutely so. We've got speech language pathologists, we've got OTs talking about things like sensory and feeding and fine motor, we've got an MD, we've got neuroscientists, we've got PTs, and so a lot of the focus, like I said, is on that first year. But the goal really is not that me as a PT, I could then go coach a family through early speech and language development, but that I would be able to feel confident in my treatment sessions seeing the positives and maybe where we need to have a referral happen. And so actually just got off of a call with my cohost and we were talking a lot about how, just as much as being able to be a referral source, it's so important for us to be able to in our sessions, also speak to the strengths of that child.

Speaker 1: 6:16

And if I'm seeing a kiddo for motor delay, you know, like my daughter she was so delayed motor wise and I guess I didn't include that piece in talking about my business and kind of my passion, but she excelled with social, emotional and speech and language development and it was such a breath of fresh air to be able to have clinicians around me speaking into that when I felt really upset and discouraged by her motor development and so being able to, as a clinician, in our sessions as maybe we're working with a baby on crawling or rolling over to be talking them through some things that that parent needs to work on for that motor development but maybe that baby is giving us great eye contact or the great back and forth kind of communication and babbling and not needing to be a speech language pathologist but being able to, to kind of talk to and encourage them of wow, look at, look at these things that they're doing.

Speaker 1: 7:08

This is so exciting. I think it can really help parents to feel like their child is seen as a whole and their family is seen as a whole, rather than, oh, here's this baby that has this checklist of things that they're not meeting and that's all that this therapist sees about my baby.

Speaker 3: 7:24

It's such a different mission to gain knowledge, to be able to encourage a family, versus gain knowledge in order to figure out what might be wrong or find the right referral. So I just I love that mindset.

Speaker 2: 7:39

One of the things that as speech pathologists, we do as well as a lot of feeding therapy and so for feeding it is so hand in hand with gross motor abilities and I think that that is so key is being able to have resources for me to better understand your realm, not being a physical therapist. Then you can provide, like you said, encouragement of yeah, but look, they're able to sit upright and look at their core strength and look at how they're now picking up their food. You can just provide those encouragements even on the flip side of motor and speech and feeding Absolutely Well. So I have a son who's motor delayed as well he's my third and I have been going through your crawling course and I got to tell you it's been incredible. So I bought it because we are fortunate to have an occupational therapist who works with him directly.

Speaker 2: 8:39

But I thought that your course served a really big need for me as a parent, just seeing what the path was, because when we're in the session we're so hands-on and manipulating him and sometimes it's hard for me to see where we're going and especially how far we've come since the beginning. So it was really nice to go into your digital course and there are these tiny little, you know bite-sized videos that were easy to understand, and then I could see like, wait a minute, he's done that, he's done that and here's where we are. And then here's where we're going, and I think every therapist has something different to offer. Like, how did you come up on digital courses? What made you create those?

Speaker 1: 9:30

Well, I appreciate your encouragement because it can be hard to know if you're helping and if it's making sense to parents. And I love what you're saying about you're able to look back at maybe some modules that you just cruised through and you're like, oh, we're good, we got that, and then also look forward to how those pieces filter forward and are the foundation for higher level skills. So you know, the courses really were kind of a COVID project. I hate to keep referencing back to COVID, but when people were not being able to be served in person or maybe didn't feel comfortable, like I said earlier, I had started offering some virtual, just coaching parent coaching, play coaching and I found myself kind of like in the early intervention in the home world, like just repeating the same things.

Speaker 1: 10:16

And there was this dividing line of some babies could follow that trajectory and these like very static, simple things that built on one another and then they'd be crawling and they were fine, they just needed a nudge.

Speaker 1: 10:29

But then the ones who didn't were the ones that ended up needing to be referred on to more hands-on therapy and supplemental therapy.

Speaker 1: 10:35

And so really the courses are never to take the place of skilled therapy intervention. They're mainly for a parent who feels like their baby is just stuck and they don't know how to help them, or they, like you said, you don't know where you're going or where you should go next, but also to be a litmus test for, okay, I feel concerned. I'm not sure if we need to go to therapy. I always recommend someone get a therapy evaluation if they have an inkling, but there are parents who, for very valid reasons, feel uneasy about that, or maybe it's a financial barrier. And can I afford to go do this evaluation if I don't even know if they need therapy? And so sort of that middle ground between okay, we're not just playing, we are playing with intent and purpose, but we also know that as parents we're not called to be our child's therapist and so if we find that those very standard approaches are not working, then we can feel confident going to our pediatrician and requesting that referral.

Speaker 2: 11:36

And I think what you do so well in the digital course too, is because they're longer videos than a social media post or something Is you really have time as the listener to understand the why and what you're doing, and you explain it really well in your living room and, just as a testimonial almost, I mean I was able to watch a module and understand it was this exercise about taking the couch cushions off and, you know, climbing up the couch, and I was able to take that after watching your video and understanding the why behind it. And we were at the pool and there was a staircase there and I was like, wait a minute, this is what she was talking about. He could do this here because he loves it. But anyways, I just thought the way that you explain things and really used your environment to teach how to do things was really really incredible.

Speaker 1: 12:32

Well, thank you for saying that.

Speaker 1: 12:33

I feel like that's the blessing in the curse with social media is we have all this knowledge at our fingertips, but often it's just these bite sized pieces. They're just like the flashy, you know, grab your attention kind of pieces of information that really don't provide the whole picture, and I think we can often convince ourselves as parents I've done this before that if our kiddo has something that they're struggling with, that I just need to piece together these 30 second reels and figure out how to help, how to help my kiddo get through this roadblock, and it's just not that simple. And so, as much as I would love to be able to provide all that long form form content for free in a really cohesive way, it really does take more of a course type environment to fully get the whole picture. We all want to take it into our own hands, but I think it's also been doing a disservice to parents to make them feel like they have to be the therapist when they don't need to be. They don't need to be the one problem solving through it all.

Speaker 3: 13:32

I really like that approach, because you're laying out a plan and a starting point and walking them through it, but then also encouraging them. And if this doesn't work, this is the direction you need to go.

Speaker 3: 13:44

Yeah, I think that's really helpful for parents and then it also gives them a sense that I tried this first and now I feel confident that this is the direction we need to go in. And sometimes it takes both having kids who have struggled in certain areas. You see the flip side of it taking a while for us to process that as a parent and move through those stages and get them the services that they need. It's hard as a parent, even though we have all that knowledge and we're telling other parents that all the time. It's a different feeling and sometimes I think these courses can be everything that the child needs to get them on their way and if not, it's that timepiece to help parents process the route and move them in the right direction. So it seems like it's serving multiple purposes. Absolutely, since you've had children, have your approaches as a therapist changed.

Speaker 1: 14:43

Oh man, yes, which is, you know, like I was talking about the summit, like gosh, if I just had had some of this information to bring context to my treatment sessions of what families go through. But you know, that was a lot of my motivation in creating the community and the way that I approach therapy in general from a very routines and rhythms oriented space, is realizing it is so tough to just manage life with kids or one child and to add in and add a dynamic, not to mention the mental load of a child who's struggling in an area of development. Our first little girl, she was born a little bit early. She was lower muscle tone, she was naturally always going to be behind in her motor skills and I'm so thankful that I was her mama and was able to do things at home.

Speaker 1: 15:35

But at the time my husband, for most of her first year, was traveling for work.

Speaker 1: 15:40

So I was working full time and then I was coming home and trying to get dinner on the table and bath and everything so low and I had to figure out how logistically that was going to look for me to know I was nurturing her development without going crazy and like staying up, you know at all hours like she had to get to bed and I had to get rest for the next day at work, and so I found little ways throughout our day that I knew in my little clinical brain would support her development.

Speaker 1: 16:07

But it wasn't like I had to sit down for an hour every night and be taking her through a full therapy session, it was more. How can I get this in little bite size increments through our day so that I don't crash into bed at the end of the day and think I didn't do our home exercise program today? You know, or I didn't get to anything that she needed. It was more everything that we did throughout the day. I tried to think of within reason of course you know not everything throughout the day, but within reason how I could utilize just how our life worked to promote her development.

Speaker 2: 16:43

When you are able, as a clinician, to put the home program, as things they're already doing, into their day, you get such better results from that family and you go so much faster too. I'm sure it changed you quite a bit to be on the receiving end of a home program and how to integrate it in your day, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 17:03

And I do lots of habit linking I think there's a fancier term for it but basically just trying to think of what are things that I do all day long with my baby or my child that I can somehow attach a habit to, and so like one of mine that I love is for tummy time. After every diaper change during their wake, windows roll them to their tummy for tummy time. You know it doesn't have to be this big orchestrated event, just like, even if it's a few seconds trying to do it that way, or when we're transitioning between positions, could I allow my baby to help me with this more than me just picking them up and rhythms like baby wearing to support development, instead of just relying on baby devices and containers all day? And I know one of the questions that we're going to get to is why some milestones may be more delayed now than they used to be. Is crawling becoming more and more common to be delayed?

Speaker 1: 17:57

And I think, gosh, there's so many factors at play here.

Speaker 1: 18:00

But really the baby industry in my mind is playing into this mentality we've created of you have to be a full time working mom, hustling mom, also have the perfect house, also have the baby who's on top of everything with their development and sleeps through the night and takes perfectly scheduled naps and you know, all of these things, all of these pressures, there are just a lot on us. And so the whole baby containers thing I educate, using in moderation, but I can see how we've gotten to this point where we've overused them because we're being sold a lifestyle that isn't really realistic, right, and maybe we need to adjust and adapt our expectations. But baby wearing is a huge one that I love to empower parents to feel confident in, because once you get it, it feels amazing and it does give you an option that isn't just like oh, I just have to drop everything and play with my baby in the floor all the time. I have this better option now that I know about that I can know is supporting their development and their growth.

Speaker 2: 19:04

Is there a carrier that you like specifically for baby wearing there?

Speaker 1: 19:09

are a lot.

Speaker 1: 19:10

I couldn't name just one and I think it really depends on you know what the parent needs it for, their body type, what the baby seems to like, but the ultimate thing is that the parent and the baby both feel really supported. So I've got lots of information on my blog and on my Instagram about baby wearing and getting them in the proper position and it being safe. I am not a baby wearing educator by any way, shape or form, but kind of just have known enough to know that is supporting development and supporting their hip development, some safety considerations and then also just knowing that there's different options for every family. There's lots of options to rent carriers to, to try them out. Most people don't know that, but there's these huge rental libraries. So if you're like I, just I want a baby wear, but I have no idea, I don't know which one I would like and over the years I've acquired a lot of different kinds. But really just acknowledging what is your lifestyle, what do you need it for, what kind of carrier might support that best.

Speaker 2: 20:12

I think you're so on point with everything you just said about as moms, feeling the weight of having to do it all and do it all perfectly in every area, and multiple kids. I think by the time you hit three kids, you just realize, oh my gosh, I can't control this anymore. There's too much, there's too many balls in the air, you know. But with all of that, you do use some really good products to help you. But have you found that as you've had more children, or as you've been a clinician and created longer, have you kind of had the less is more mentality when it comes to items for your baby, or do you find that there's actually more out there? Are you finding no, actually I need less to do the same things.

Speaker 1: 20:57

Yeah, I think there's so much wisdom that comes with the more times we've been a mama and the longer you go on. I can remember my first diaper bag specifically. I mean I had like every single thing in there that I could ever possibly need, and now I'm like I'm five minutes from a target wherever I am, like if I need Tylenol and we're out or whatever it may be, I can probably get that. So definitely less is more as far as just getting through even going with having a toddler and a baby. This last time I really did want to commit to reducing container usage. Our house is an old house so it was also a selfish thing in that way that I didn't want things cluttering our environment, tripping over things, and so in that regard I've developed a less is more approach, but also with lots of grace of if you truly need something, then utilize it in moderation.

Speaker 1: 21:51

I really talk a lot about the two to one rule where let's just try to get twice as much free movement time as time spent in some sort of container.

Speaker 1: 22:00

So containers are like car seats, swings, bouncers, extra saucers, things like that. Everyone's lifestyle is different, everyone's daily needs are different and particularly a lot of parents are working from home now and trying to also juggle childcare while they wait for a spot at daycare to open up. I feel like that is really rampant right now. So I don't want anyone to ever hear me say you should just ditch them all together and never use them. If you need to use them, use them and feel empowered to know kind of parameters around it of. Okay, I needed to get on that zoom call for work and my baby was in the swing for an hour, so what do I need to do now? Now I need to take a little work break, if I can, and try to get down on the floor with them or let them play in their crib while I'm putting away their laundry, or whatever it may be. So for sure, less is more approach. We do not need most of these things that's so true.

Speaker 2: 22:55

Well, my son that has the motor delays that we're doing your course for, he also had tortoise collis and we ended up in a helmet, and I remember them telling me too this is so common these days because of the carrier use, like you said. Are you seeing that in your world, as well as just that increase in needing helmets for babies?

Speaker 1: 23:20

Yeah, absolutely, and a lot of it is that we're not putting babies on their bellies to sleep anymore too, and so we know it's the most safe option to put babies on their back.

Speaker 1: 23:30

But when babies were sleeping on their bellies they could have been born with a directional preference or really even tortoise collis.

Speaker 1: 23:36

And think about if we ever sleep on our stomach.

Speaker 1: 23:38

You know, throughout the night you're lifting your head and turning it to the other direction and you're trying to move and reposition, and they kind of could naturally not only stretch those muscles out but also not be putting constant pressure on the side of the head that they preferred to look to. And so we're absolutely seeing an increase, and I think some of the container and carrier usage, like you're talking about, can contribute in that there also may be babies born with what's called directional preference, meaning they may have just been, like my baby's, head down. They may be head down for the next six weeks until they're born, stuck kind of in one position, so they may come out preferring to look one direction, and if I just then immediately go from car seat to then being in their swing to going into a bouncer, they just kind of stay cozyed in that position versus when we allow that freedom of movement on a flat surface. It allows them to explore the different ranges of their movement and kind of assist with stretching themselves out, naturally.

Speaker 2: 24:39

Well, one of the must have things not carrier wise is first, shoes. So these are items that you do need, for your baby, in fact, and you have great information on your Instagram and courses even about this. But I think this is the other thing about the carrier, the Amazon kind of. Other side of the coin is there are so many options now that it's really hard when you're a mom looking on Amazon and you just want to buy the best shoe. It's really hard to find what that information is without a direct referral or somebody telling you this is the one you should really get. So what do you have to share about shoes?

Speaker 1: 25:22

Yeah. So disclaimer is that my knowledge is still evolving on this. I've done almost a complete 180 since being in the clinic on how I feel about shoes, based on just some information and research I've encountered and some things in my own experience with my kids and with their shoes and things that I saw happening, both for the positive and the negative. And so the number one thing to know is that you're not going to ruin your kids and same with containers like you're not ruining your kids Anything. We do that we were operating out of the knowledge that we had at the time and then we discover new knowledge like it is not your fault, you didn't have that information and so, taking anything I'm saying and knowing it is my job as a professional to know these things and educate you on them. That does not mean as a parent, we're supposed to be, from day one, built in with this handbook of. Well, I just know, you know I've even changed as a mom and as a clinician in the last six years. There are things I did with our first and our second that I may not repeat this time around, or things that I didn't do that I want to implement this time. So just all that to say, with all this information, we can often harbor guilt or shame around things that maybe we feel like we made a mistake and saying that I'm also speaking to. With our first, I put her in shoes that are absolutely the opposite of maybe what I would recommend now. So, now that we've got that behind us, really moving in my mindset towards what we would call more of a minimalist shoe, and so the shoe industry has changed drastically in the last 50 years specifically, and lots of factors at play there.

Speaker 1: 27:04

But I think we often think, as adults, the best shoe is the one that provides the most bang for its buck, like the most cushion, the most arch support, the most durable exterior and it's going to, you know, like look very strong and stable and like that's what we need. But really I'm moving more towards the mentality, based on research, of that. Our foot was designed with such incredible technology to support our bodies and we need the feedback from our feet to adjust from the ground up. So everything is affected from the ground up right, and that starts from the time our little ones are bearing weight on their own. If we give them a shoe that completely stabilizes their foot, they never have the opportunity to try to build those muscles and all of those reactions themselves. The shoe does it for them and kind of just shuts off those muscles, so to speak, because the muscles are not having to do the work. And so what I mean by a more minimalist shoe is one that doesn't have a really thick sole. It has what's called a zero drop sole, meaning there's no decline from the heel going down to the toe, and that's surprisingly hard to find.

Speaker 1: 28:18

In a lot of places we would typically shop because we're so used to seeing shoes that look like this. Our tennis shoes often look like this where the heel is higher, and we feel like that's going to make us have a better stride or run easier or be more supportive when we're being active. But actually it can really throw us off balance, and one of the books that I was reading was talking about for such a small foot the in physics and like angles and all that stuff were never my strong suit but for such a small foot that the change in angle is that much more compounded because their foot is so small. So if you elevate the heel, suddenly their body starts to tip forward. Well, think about when our body tips forward. We have to compensate for that to stay upright. So it was showing like a picture of a woman in a high heel, and I wore, you know, a lot of high heels back in my day I don't anymore, but it was so funny to see like when we're in high heels, essentially it tips your body forward at such a significant angle and then we have to counteract that right and all the different forces that play there. And so for our little ones, they feel that even more, so we really need to give them a shoe that has that zero drop. So I'm showing a picture here, but you can see that there is no angle on this shoe or this one between the heel and the toe. That's really important because we don't want to be tipping them forward.

Speaker 1: 29:42

When babies first learn to stand and walk, they already have trouble with catching their toe. The muscle that helps lift their toe takes a little bit longer to catch up, and so if we're pushing them at that forward angle it can lead to tripping and falling and just altered forces there. But we also want to be thinking about how much their foot's going to be growing and in standing our toes expand and they splay out to give us balance and stability and lots of information about where our body is in space. And babies and toddlers really need that information, because this is all new. They're developing an entirely new map for how to move, and so if we've got a shoe that isn't wide or foot shaped in the toe box is what it's called, so right here it's scrunching their toes together and eventually their feet are going to start to grow in a way that are more scrunched together like that. So you can see, here I'm kind of showing how at the toe, it's not only wide but it actually comes out further around that big toe, because the big toe really splays out. So that's something that I look for as well.

Speaker 1: 30:50

A lot of times people will think, well, if I just buy a wide sized shoe, that should be okay. Well, no, that's actually more about the width of the actual shoe itself than the area in the space that the toes take up. So that's a really important one. We want a flexible sole too. So you'll see here both of these shoes I can completely bend in half, which is what we want to see, and a lot. That's contradictory to what we're often told about shoes, but that allows them to feel if they're a little toddler and they're stepping on a little rock, maybe in the sidewalk, if they can feel that their foot and ankle can adjust and adapt and they can balance, versus if it's a really rigid sole they're going to kind of teeter over it and potentially lose their balance, but then that doesn't give their body any information about what they can do next time to prevent themselves from falling. And so, really flexible.

Speaker 1: 31:44

I like highly adjustable shoes, so I'm a big fan of Velcro as long as possible. I feel like the whole shoe tying thing is already hard for kindergarten teachers who the kids and beyond kindergarten honestly, that the shoes are constantly coming untied. But what's so nice is this promotes independence too, so the kids can get the shoes on themselves. But there's lots of adjustability here. You can even add strap extenders if you feel like your kiddo needs even more room for their feet. But those are kind of the main things I look for, and just encouraging parents that we don't need shoes for our toddlers nearly as soon as we think that they do. If it's a safety concern, that's when I recommend people have shoes. So whether it be like it's really hot outside right now, I don't want to send my kiddo outside barefoot or really even in just socks, because that would be way too hot on their feet or way too cold in the winter. But as much barefoot time as they can get is all the better.

Speaker 3: 32:42

This is so interesting to hear this because I have my oldest. Three are boys and I have 15, 11 and 9 and the two older boys are just naturally more active like outside playing all the time. And the third boy that's just not as natural for him and we've kind of seen that as he's grown up just all the things coming together is, you know, the coordination skills and everything. But we have a coach of my older two boys that's kind of been working with him one on one my youngest to kind of help him gain some of those skills. The first thing he said is take a shoes off and have him play outside. He just needs that more time without shoes on and playing and his body adjusting to that. And he has really tried to help us find for his age even some of those shoes that have that flat sole area and minimal.

Speaker 1: 33:37

But if we have an opportunity to provide a better shoe, I love that the coach was suggesting that. And really, you know, the moment that I can remember my mindset shifting was I had a kiddo who had braces on his lower legs that went up to behind his knee, very necessary for him, so not discrediting any use of orthotics at all, but most of our sessions so that he could remain upright and balanced, I kept those braces on and for some reason, and I can't recall why, we decided to take them off and do a session without them. And when he took them off, I suddenly realized how atrophied his muscles and his lower leg had become, because that device, that orthotic, was doing all of the work of the balance and stability for him which was necessary in many times when we needed him to be functional and balanced and not have to be worrying about falling, you know, with his peers and things like that. He needed to be in those but also counterbalancing that with time outside of the orthotics or outside of these really clunky supportive shoes, so that his body could begin to develop its own strength and stability rather than constantly having sort of the bandaid of all of that support. And so I think it's really about that balance.

Speaker 1: 34:54

And like going back to my daughter, she had really, really flat feet and my old way of thinking was then we need a really supportive shoe because that is going to help her arch develop.

Speaker 1: 35:04

Well, no, actually it didn't help her arch develop at all, because it was doing that thing the work of creating an arch for her and her foot could never create it on her own, and so when we started, I started staying home more and having her play more in barefoot. That was when I really got to see the cool effects of being barefoot or wearing more minimalist shoes, that those little tiny muscles and they're tiny, tiny, but there's lots of muscles on her foot and ankle they were able to suddenly kick on and come to life and do some of the work for her so that when, whether she was in or out of shoes, she was stronger and more stable and just able to be a kid. She climbs trees now and loves to do all sorts of crazy things, and she's got a lot more stability thanks to the time that she was able to spend building that musculature on her own.

Speaker 2: 35:53

Well, one of the questions that that reminded me of is shoes. And then, kim, you were talking about your kids that are older and track. What about bike riding? So I know that is a major milestone for kids to be able to ride a bike. Do you I know you're not there yet with your own kids, probably, or maybe you are, but what advice do you have to say about that kind of physical milestone? Is learning that and when to figure out the balance?

Speaker 1: 36:22

Yeah, great question. I would say this is an area that I don't feel super well-versed in, it's not my niche necessarily but I can give you what I've learned along the way. One of the main things is all different kinds of bikes serve different kinds of purposes. So I think we can get into our head of like, do I do the balance bike or do I do the tricycle or the training wheels? If I do the training wheels, am I doing it to the detriment of them being able to ride independently and all this stuff? And really just to say that they all serve a purpose and a function.

Speaker 1: 36:58

The balance bike is amazing because it does what it says in the name. It teaches them their balance and their what are called riding reactions, so how to monitor and move their body in response to being tipped off of their center of gravity. It really really helps with stride. So they basically are running on the balance bike and then they can lift their feet. So those are all good things, but there's also a lot of benefit to sitting on a bike and learning to pedal. And when we have the like the tricycle environment or the training wheels, we're able to focus on the leg strength necessary to propel the wheels without having to worry about our balance, so to speak. And so I think, just really knowing that it doesn't have to be one or the other, we use all different kinds and we use scooters and they're all serving a purpose, which is movement and movement exploration. And movement exploration can never be a bad thing. It can always be beneficial and it's always teaching them something about their bodies. And so, you know, we are in the stage now where my daughter did the balance bike for several years and she's now riding a bike with training wheels.

Speaker 1: 38:09

Some people would say you shouldn't do that. If you've been doing the balance bike, you should just go straight to a big bike. But, acknowledging where your child is at, and she really didn't feel ready for that, and that's okay, some kids they'll do the balance bike and you'll think, okay, this is my child, I'm observing their skills and they're totally ready to just go for it. But it's a really exciting and fun thing. But finding that fine line of how can I push them to continue learning and growing without giving such a big challenge that they're frustrated and they don't want to do it it takes the joy out of it, right?

Speaker 2: 38:45

Yeah, well, you've talked a lot about about movement and about barefoot play and I'm just picturing that your kids have so much fun together outdoors Are there. Are there some things that your family does or that you recommend for children to do for movement outside, or, as a family, do you have some go to activities?

Speaker 1: 39:08

You know, I wish I could say I have set activities, but I have actually just found that when kids are outside they just they do it themselves. They're so excited to explore and move and discover new things. And you know, our beginning of our journey of getting outside more was actually kind of a mental health thing for me. I had a two year old and a baby and then the world shut down and I just felt like the four walls were closing in on me a little bit. And there's actually so much research about how getting outside suddenly we don't have the visual clutter that we have in our homes. Even if we have a clean home, there's a lot of visual over stimulation, sound carries in a different way. So if we've got a baby that's crying and a toddler that's tantruming, it's so good for everyone's mental health. And then just being outdoors and the way that our vision changes, suddenly we're seeing much further distances, which allows our eyes to relax. And you know, I just think kids thrive in the outdoors and we've really gotten away from that mentality for whatever reason. You know there are lots of factors at play there, but we don't really set up activities. Some of our fun things that support outdoor play are taking books outside. So a lot of times if we're going to read books, I love to go outside and just lay out a picnic blanket and, rather than just being on our couch, get some early morning sunshine and all the benefits of that. And then usually that lends itself into them getting up and exploring. But even from the time they're babies, tummy time can be done outside. Utilize outdoor swings. We have several different kinds of swings that I love and from the time my second was really really little, I would let our toddler play outside and have him in some sort of swing, whether it be a flat swing that he could do tummy time or lay on his back, or more of a seated swing that he could work on some of his upright stability. But providing simple things, digging tools. We have a mud kitchen that was made by someone in our family but just like old, cheap, you know Goodwill thrift store type stuff that you can put out there that they can do pretend play but be outside.

Speaker 1: 41:21

And then also, I think the big thing when we're talking about motor development is really working to get away from our helicopter parent mentality. We're seeing more and more that kids need movement, that they're not getting. We're not fulfilling their daily movement needs because we're so fearful of them getting hurt that we're preventing them from learning on their own. And I'm preaching to myself when I say this, because it's so hard. My daughter and son were just trying to climb a tree last night and my immediate thought is to be like right there on them, holding on to them as they're climbing in the tree. But that doesn't allow them to learn the limits of their own body and, of course, that doesn't mean that I'm just going to go sit 30 feet away and say if they fall, they fall. But finding that balance of safety while also allowing them to learn a lot about how they can move because we can't always be there and they will encounter things that maybe they feel inclined to explore, and I want them to have the little baby step skills to get there to know.

Speaker 1: 42:25

I did this other thing that is similar to this and it did not go well last time.

Speaker 1: 42:29

So either I'm going to adjust the way that I move my body when I do this or I'm going to determine within myself, without mom having to tell me, that this is too risky and I shouldn't do this, my body is not ready for it, and it's something I've had to work on a lot as a parent, I think, especially being in the clinic, where of course you don't want your own kids to fall but you really don't want somebody else's child to fall on your watch, and so hovering so much in that environment and then now with my own kids having to say, ok, this is good for them, this is so great for so many realms of development, for their attention.

Speaker 1: 43:06

With homeschooling it's going to be a big thing for us to try to break up learning time with movement time and there's all kinds of amazing research on if we get kids out and get them. Moving their attention from being outdoors improves so much and it has trickle over effects even into when we bring them back in doors and maybe sit down to do more of like book work type activities.

Speaker 2: 43:31

I do think it's amazing that you're so well rounded in in all the different parts of development and I think the summit shows that too. You clearly have really a goal of integrating all of these parts of life to really help kids, you know, just be their best selves and find their own little ways and who they are, yeah Well hey, if I'm having a bad day, I'm going to call you girls because you're really good cheerleaders.

Speaker 1: 43:57

I love this and it's nice to feel like you know, someone kind of can can see your goals. It can be difficult, you throw things out into the abyss of social media and you're not sure how you're coming across, but I appreciate you saying that and appreciate all that you both do to educate families as well and make everything so accessible and easy and simple and fun and play filled. We just got those water balloons that one of your recent posts was about. That are so fun. When I first saw them I was like this seems silly, like really we need a reusable water balloon. And then we got them and I thought this is amazing. Like you know, it just conserves so many purposes.

Speaker 2: 44:36

So I love it. I would love it if you were able to provide some encouragement for mom, specifically about the mental load. You mentioned that earlier, about the mental load of having a child who might not be on the trajectory that you thought, maybe a little delayed, or just struggling with your own mental load as a mom trying to get your kids to move more. You know, when you might be met with a little bit of adversity from your own children wanting to get off those screens. But what kind of encouragement would you give moms?

Speaker 1: 45:08

Oh gosh, that's such a big ask because there's so much to say.

Speaker 1: 45:12

But you know, just really understanding that we can zoom in and we can zoom out on our current situation and when we are in the trenches of motherhood especially in that like birth to three, where there's so many milestones flying at us that we're supposed to be keeping up with so many changes constantly, you know, as soon as we figure out a routine and a rhythm, then they change their nap schedule or they're feeding or whatever it may be, and suddenly we're thrown off again.

Speaker 1: 45:42

But just encouraging you that when we then zoom out, a lot of these things that feel really, really big in this moment are big in some regards. But allowing ourselves to take a deep breath and step back and look at our child as a whole person, see where their strengths are, see where they need help, look at ourselves and think, gosh, I really struggle with X, y or Z, like I can't constantly be jumping through these hoops. I have bad days, I have good days, and really realizing that our kids are just the same way, they're their own little people, and just giving lots and lots of grace for the refining process that is motherhood and parenthood and how each thing not only is working for their good but for our good too, and we're growing and learning, just as they are, and not looking back with regret but moving forward, feeling empowered that each day we have something new, that we may know or feel encouraged to do and change, and that's okay, that's part of the process.

Speaker 3: 46:51

Thanks for listening. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast and check out our website thespeechsourcecom.

Speaker 2: 46:59

Also check us out on Instagram for more ideas on speech, language, feeding and play.