The other day while watching my daughter do her homework I noticed that her posture was absolutely ridiculous.  Growing up I remember my own mother yelling at me to “Sit up straight!” at least 5,434,524,435 times.  Looking back I wished that I had listened, but alas I was a sullen apathetic teenager.  Now that I’m older I understand that good posture is more important than looking good, but also helps your body function properly.  When you have good posture your organs have the room they were designed to have in order to function properly.  You can breathe deeper.  Plus, your back will likely not hurt as bad.

In that split second that I pondered all this and reminisced about my mom yelling at me I came to two conclusions.  First, I was not going to yell at my daughter about her posture.  My reaction to my mom was that I tried to sit up, got tired, and gave up.  It didn’t seem realistic to keep it up so I didn’t bother.  The second conclusion I came to was that my posture right now is terrible.  Three pregnancies has not made it much better either.  Humans learn practically everything from their surroundings, and posture is no different.  I am to blame for my kids terrible posture.

Luckily, I’ve caught on to this problem fairly early.  My plan of attack to getting my kids to sit and stand up straight is very simple.  First I spoke with their doctors about my concerns.  She agrees that their sitting in a slouched position isn’t great, but that they do stand up straight.  Thank goodness!  Turns out I stand up straight too, I just cannot get enough lounging around when I sit.  Re-training myself to sit up right has been difficult to say the least.  I am making sure that my feet are firmly planted on the ground when I sit.  And, I am taking advantage of back rests!  They are there to help you!  Take stock of how you are sitting as you read this, if you’re slouching remember you kids are watching!  Since I have put some effort into sitting up I have noticed my kids are sitting better as well.  It didn’t take them long to adapt.  When you’re kids are drawing or writing make sure you give them a slat supportive seat to sit on.  Be patient, and sit up straight!

-Stephanie Wright