Changing direction or walking backwards are incredibly complex skills!

We do it often and without thinking, but for your toddler, changing direction while walking is a really tricky skill to master. It involves not only the physical actions of moving their legs and body in the right direction, but also a whole lot of sensory messages as their body moves in this new way.  

Your toddler’s body needs to learn which muscles to move differently when they take a step backwards, compared to the more familiar forwards motion. This requires plenty of practice and often very slow movements at first, but it does come naturally to most children as they become confident walkers.^[1]  

How our senses make us move

Our bodies are sensitive to our movements and the world around us. Our senses gather this information and tell our brain things we need to process as we move around.  

So, as well as moving physically to change direction (and especially to walk backwards), our senses need to gather and process a new pattern of information and then help our bodies to adapt to the new sensations as they move. 

Your toddler's brilliant 'balancing act'

This is why your toddler might be able to take one or two steps back, or to the side, but struggle to walk further this way. Their sense of balance, and the information they are trying to gather from all their other senses, is not yet stable enough to keep the movement steady for long.^{[1, 2]} 

When your toddler next changes direction and moves sideways, or backwards, quietly celebrate the moment knowing how many incredible connections are being made in their brain and body as they do it. 

References: 

[1] Lamb, t and Yang, F.J. (2000) ‘Could Different Directions of Infant Stepping Be Controlled by the Same Locomotor Central Pattern Generator?’ Journal of Neurophysiology. 83:5, Pages 2814-2824. 

[2] Zill, N.S (2007) ‘Invertebrate Neurobiology: Sensory Processing in Reverse for Backward Walking’ Current Biology. 17:12, Pages R462-R464.