W-sitting and Shyness in Children

So, for school I have been volunteering because it’s for one of my assignment. (Everyone including me is wondering why a Graphic Design/Art major is volunteering with children too), and unfortunately we have to do it in “teams” so I can’t use my Japanese school as one -_-. I have a lot of experience with kids myself actually. I have a half-sister 11 years younger than I am, but I haven’t seen her since she was 5, but I spent a lot of time baby sitting her… and my step-cousin is turning 5 soon. Both are very hyper active, so after those two I can face anything lol… Not to mention my 3 years volunteering on Saturdays already…

But this time, it’s a private school, and I was working in the Day-care/Preschool/Kindergarten section.

About 9 of the 13 children were sitting in the W-sitting position while playing. Ages 2 1/2-3 (toddlers if you will)

I was actually surprised at first and noticed right away, especially the children still in diapers/training pants favored this.

During the carpet time (if you don’t remember from your own preschool/kindergarten time, it’s the time where you sing songs, read stories, etc.) they encouraged the children to sit in the criss-cross-apple-sauce/”Indian-style”/folded leg style.

Also I could tell right away the shy ones, from the normal ones, to the out going ones.

About 15-20% of people are born shy. I could spot out at least 2 of the 13 (about 15%) that were actually shy based off of their reactions to a new adult (me), watching them play, watching them interact with other children, etc… I’m not psychoanalyst or child psychologist, these are just my observations.

They reminded me a lot of myself (as do a lot of my Japanese school students do lol…). I’m actually a pretty painfully shy person =_=. My boyfriend often gets irritated lol… However, as you probably noticed, I like to talk about what I know. If I don’t know then I’m very quiet and shy. I know how to turn “tomato red” by blushing as my boyfriend and mom have described (darn you pale skin D:). I’ve noticed as I’m losing a little weight I’m becoming more comfortable though lol -_- I’m going to keep ranting, so I’ll just stop here.

The W-sitting Position

I can’t sleep and I blame my hospital trip lol. I’m guessing I’m taking the steroids too late and they’re keeping me awake… I’m going to try to stay up and nap later on in the day to try to get my sleeping pattern back… Also I haven’t been drinking enough water, but I just can’t drink it >_< I know you shouldn’t wait to drink when you’re feeling thirsty, but I’m not even to that point and yesterday I went the whole day drinking less than a cup of water. Omg so bad >_<.

What should I write about? My camera officially died, so the only way I can take pictures is by holding the Memory card AND battery in the camera while taking a picture (easier said than done) or through my webcam that makes everything shiny and blue…

Let’s talk about the W-sitting position! Since its been on my mind lately lol.

The W-sitting position is exactly what it sounds like, you sit in a “W” shape. Many children do this because it helps them balance. I, myself was one of these children lol. Again, sorry for bad picture quality, but these are pictures that are being taken a picture of, not scanned.

I think it’s cute to sit this way, which is especially commonly seen in Asian countries and Anime to look cute. Hell, even America does it lol, while looking for a picture to use, I found this one of Brittney Spears sitting this way. I just googled these pictures, they aren’t mine.

However, there is much controversy in this style of sitting when it comes to orthopedic (foot/leg) care. I think I just naturally grew out of it because while in day care and then later into preschool/kindergarten it was taught to sit in the “Indian” or “Criss-Cross Apple Sauce” pose. I guess this encourages your hips to go outward, leading your legs to go outward, thus your feet will not in-toe and you won’t trip over your toes, which is a common problem for most pigeon-toed children.When I Google’d “w sitting position” it also gave me “femoral anteversion” as one of the related searches, which I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about before… If you’re not quite sure, there’s a picture below illustrating it and one of me on my first birthday (I started walking around 11 months).

My mom used to think I walked this way to try to be cute as I grew older =_=. No. I was born this way; people just don’t notice. It’s gotten a lot better with Physical Therapy (YEARS AND YEARS OMG) but it starts to become very obvious I walk this way when I start to tire out and sometimes even my boyfriend tells me to stop walking funny, but I have to remind him of my feet as well… However, I can’t sit in the W-position. Maybe because my legs are too fat LOL? It hurts my hips and thighs, but I do sit like this once in a while because it provides a good stretch after I dislocate my hip(s) or if my legs have this weird pain. I find it easier to sit with both my legs out straight or one leg straight the other bent, but usually I go back to just sitting with my legs out. If I do sit with my legs crossed on the ground for more than a short period I start to develop back pain >_<.

I don’t know too much about the W-sitting position so if you were hoping for answers I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. I just wanted to write about something and I didn’t know what @_@.