as told to Sara ChodoshSince about 1920, when researchers
first began studying how humans
learn to walk, the standard method
has been to encourage young chil-
dren to move from point A to point B.
Babies can do that, of course, but
they usually veer away from the
path. Maybe they go to point C, or
they stop halfway between A and B
to pick a piece of lint off the carpet.
They’re not goal-directed the way
researchers assume they are. So I
decided to just let them play and see
how much they moved.
Everyone knew that toddlers walk
a lot, but when we actually counted, itwas astounding. One at a time, we
put infants between 12 and 19 months
of age in a lab playroom equipped
with toys, stairs, and a little slide,
keeping a caregiver present. We
filmed them, and when we reviewed
the footage to track their walking,
they averaged about 2,400 steps per
hour. That’s roughly the distance of
eight American football fields! Plus, in
situations where the caregiver wasn’t
playing with the baby, that step
count almost doubled, reaching
about 4,000 steps an hour. It’s like
they’re thinking, “If you won’t play
with me, I’ll make my own fun!”EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
baby steps, baby steps
KAREN ADOLPH, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY