Barefoot Babies: Happier And Smarter?
Your little son took off his shoes and there you are, again denying what is one of the most frequent worries and annoyances of mothers. However, science holds that your nightmare stunts the growth of boys. But what has been researched regarding barefoot babies?
In principle there are three basic principles: freedom, happiness and intelligence. In this way, this controversial study that went around the world demolishes the tendency to put shoes on the little ones early and banishes entrenched myths such as colds, education and physical issues.
The research is entitled “Preventive podiatry: barefoot babies, equal to smarter children” and was promoted by the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. They are comfortable and happy, they can explore and develop properly, why not leave them barefoot?
What does science say?
“The physical movement and sensory stimulation of the baby through bare feet is a factor that accelerates maturation, proprioceptive development and intellectual development of the child,” says Isabel Gentil García at the beginning of the report.
Likewise, throughout this investigation the sale and advertising of footwear for “preandantes” is criticized, to the same extent that the excessive pediatric recommendation to put babies on shoes is attacked, an act apparently necessary only to warm the feet.
Gentil García warns that, by covering the boy’s foot, he is deprived of both all tactile information and the perception of position and movement of the body in relation to space. According to the expert, barefoot babies accelerate the maturation of motor skills, in addition to visual and manual coordination.
Thus, through an interdisciplinary approach, it emphasizes the importance of leaving babies barefoot and argues that the feet represent a way that informs the baby about their external world, thus knowing different surfaces and textures.
The role of feet in those barefoot babies
From the field of neurology, they indicate that babies’ feet are more sensitive to touch than the hand up to ten months, so that during those first months of life the feet fulfill an essential function: experimentation and knowledge of the baby through contact tactile.
For this reason, the article from the Madrid University insistently advocates leaving babies barefoot, given that by putting them on, they are deprived of useful perceptual information capable of playing a prominent role in the central nervous system.
According to the stages of intelligence development developed by Piaget, in the sensorimotor stage, manipulation, movement and organization of sensory information are important since they provide a first notion of the self, space, time and causality.
For this reason, the feet are spoken of as true privileged receptors that contribute to a better development of the baby’s intelligence, which is the result of a complex interaction between the environment and the organism, while one of the most intervening environmental factors is the self-knowledge of one’s own body.
In addition, barefoot babies who support their feet on all types of surfaces -even uneven ones-, enjoy better muscular development, since they do not have additional weight to their body and gain in free movements, which guarantees a greater control of her body.
Barefoot babies, what for?
All children love to go barefoot, as well as being naked, regardless of the consequences that this may have on their health, which is the main concern of parents. However, this custom not only obeys the comfort of the child but also offers many benefits :
- Increase your self-knowledge by observing the movements of your fingers, the touch and smell of the soles of your feet.
- Collaborates in the formation of the arch of the sole of the foot, avoiding flat feet.
- Facilitates and stimulates walking in children.
- Provide sensory experiences to the little one.
- Prevents bacteria and sweating, which keeps fungus, calluses and bad smell on the feet.
Barefoot babies, freer, smarter and happier children
Adults often get nervous when they see barefoot babies, although children love to be stripped of all kinds of clothes. Precisely, this study brings reassurance around this concern by showing that these minors are happier walking freely through life.
Research claims that barefoot babies have a deeper contact with their environment and perceive the world differently. At the same time, these boys discover their body and know it in a different way as they use it to feel the outside.
“At the initial point of the development of intelligence there is no difference between the self and the external world, everything occurs in a block”, indicate the specialists. But, in this “block” the premander must explore and directly feel the textures as part of his learning.
And you, did you know the importance of allowing your child to remain barefoot? Knowing this information, will you put aside those beautiful little shoes that you thought to put on him at such a young age? What is your opinion of this scientific study?
