WTHeck…Is the W Sit That Bad for Our Kids?
Virasana. Hero Pose. This is my “yummy” yoga position. And even yummier is Supta Virasana (reclined Hero Pose). At the end of hot yoga, this pose feels like the right amount of stretch. One morning, however, the yumminess was foiled when I realized the similarity between virasana and the W-sit familiar to all parents. I totally lost my zen focus trying to reconcile one of my favorite yoga poses with the W-word.
The W-sit is synonymous with bad habit. And I was ready to fill your computer screen with only the evidence to support just that: the W-sit should be avoided and if it becomes a problem, what to do about it. End of story.
Well, it’s not. Believe me, I am as surprised as you are. For someone who enjoys a good debate I never entertained the idea that there were two sides to the W-sit story, even when I realized a modified W-sit was part of my yoga routine.*** So this post may rock your thinking about how your kids sit to play. It may not. But hopefully it will get you thinking.
The W-sit is a stable, seated position. Both sitting bones are in contact with the floor and the knees are bent with the feet tucked back, the left foot to the left of the bottom and the right foot to the right. Kids typically favor the W-sit between the ages of 3 and 6, but kids older than this do, too. For children, the W-sit is “yummy” because of the wide, stable base it allows.
This is my 13-year-old son. I do catch him in the “W-sit” sometimes, but this is not one of those times. in full disclosure, I did ask him to pose for this photo…
No wonder kids love the W-sit. Who wants to worry about staying balanced when engaged with legos, a good picture book or a game? But that is exactly the problem, pediatricians and occupational therapists say. When kids sit this way, they don’t develop core muscle strength, practice trunk rotation or shift side-to-side. The resulting muscle weakness causes poor sitting posture, pigeon-toeing (inward-facing toes which impacts walking and running gait), difficulties with balance and lack of body awareness. What’s more is when kids W-sit, they reach for objects only on the same side of the body, meaning if a block lays to the left, a child will exclusively select his left hand to retrieve it. The same goes for the right. This habit can delay development of hand dominance and cause weakness in cross-body coordination.
Remember being told If you keep making that face it will freeze that way? Now, we’ve learned Mom was just trying to get us to stop making faces, and we probably stopped more because our faces got tired (not because of any serious worry about looking weird the rest of our lives…). But with the comfortably stable W-sit, the risk of “freezing” is a possibility. Kids love to play in this position but when leg muscles are chronically positioned in the same shortened state, coordination, balance and movement are compromised.
This all sounds like ominous news for kids’ physical development. But in a feature article on today.com Dr. Jennifer Weiss, a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon with Kaiser Permanente, says she doesn’t worry about kids using the W-sit. She explains that when children are born the thighbones are naturally rotated inward (called femoral anteversion), so W-sitting, a position where the thighs do just that, feels natural and comfortable to young kids. In fact, Dr. Weiss goes on to say, sitting in the “criss-cross applesauce” position (which forces the thighbones to rotate outward) can be awkward or unattainable in this age group. So the W-sit is a sign of normal development. And what’s more, Dr. Weiss explains, children aren’t going to sit in a way that feels uncomfortable; so the affinity for the W-sit means that bones, muscles and joints aren’t being stressed and that the W-sit doesn’t put kids at risk for future developmental or orthopaedic problems.
While Dr. Weiss’ explanation is logical, what if children get too comfy and won’t sit any other way? It makes sense to say they would be at risk for developing the delays and problems mentioned above. While the W-sit may not be harmful as a “sometimes” play position, what can be done in the case of the child who rarely sits in other positions? Fortunately, there are strategies parents can use to break the W-sit habit:
- Consistency. (a consistent bit of parenting advice…) The best verbiage is to ask your child to “Rearrange your legs, please,” then help your child to find an alternative sitting position.
- For other ways to sit, “Criss-cross applesauce” is a common choice, but as Dr. Weiss rationalized, this position may not be comfortable for some kids. Other possibilities include:
~squatting
~sitting on a low chair
~kneeling (great for activating the core and the hip muscles)
~sitting with the legs fully extended in front with the back against the couch or a wall
However, if your child refuses to rearrange his legs or can’t sit unassisted in one of the positions mentioned above, seek help from your pediatrician who will likely refer your child to an occupational therapist for evaluation. Other signs requiring medical attention include poor coordination, pigeon-toeing, muscle weakness and struggles with fine motor tasks like shoe-tying.
Who knew there would be a controversy regarding the seemingly black-and-white issue of the W-sit. Like most things, moderation is key. Like virasana feels yummy to some of us yogis, the W-sit feels yummy to kids. Hanging out in hero pose for extended periods of time isn’t good yoga practice as counter poses help develop balance and muscle strength. The same applies to the W-sit in kids. The indulgence is fine for short periods but is detrimental to developing balance, coordination and cross-body activities. In short, don’t worry if your child sometimes chooses the W-sit. Just be sure to encourage other play positions as well (in fact, sitting too much encourages an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle…so head outside.)
***Any adult who’s tried virasana realizes this isn’t a natural sitting position (our thighs rotate outward as we grow). It’s a pose designed to provide a multitude of health benefits and done properly and safely for short periods of time can improve flexibility and relieve muscle tightness.
Sources/links:
lemonlimeadventures.com/when-to-worry-about-w-sitting/
nspt4kids.com/parenting/w-sitting-and-your-childs-growth/
https://www.today.com/parents/why-w-sitting-really-not-so-bad-kids-after-all-t69806
