My BF from elementary years and I both W-sat (we never noticed this and nobody ever said anything). She sat in a true W, I sat W with one leg tucked under-- and still do. It's the most comfortable position for me when sitting on the floor to play with the kids or read them a book. Not sure if this is related to the sitting, but the BF and I were the least athletic in our grade-- last-picked in gym. We also had the worst handwriting. This kind of stuff didn't bother either of us, but could be a very big deal for most kids.

I am still very unathletic but manage to work out regularly and have no pains in my body (32 YO) as of yet.

Both my kids have tone at the lower end of the normal range (and speech and fine motor delays). They both W-sit. Therapists (OT) tell us to dissuade them from doing so. We do sometimes, but we don't stress about it a ton. If their tone were not in the normal range at all, I'd be more concerned and make them use their muscles more to sit instead of using the W, but with where they are gross-motor-skill wise, I'm not overly worried about it.

two year old twins both W-sit. They have poor core strength and have trouble sitting criss cross. I remind them and correct occasionally, but it's one of those things that happens almost every time they sit so it would be hard to be at them all day about it. What i have heard is it can cause some muscle tightness and it's a way to stabilize if your toddie has poor muscle tone. Their speech therapist told us that these are the kids who flop over a lot during circle time in pre school because it is hard to sit criss cross for that long. On a side note my husband sat this way for most of his kid years, he was pigeon-toed for quite awhile, but athletic and corrected the issue himself just by learning to correct his foot positioning, etc. I have a long torso and poor core strength myself but I don't think I was a w-sitter.

My 14m dd is in PT for very mild low tone issues. Her PT told us to discourage w sitting because it stretches the ligaments and could make it harder for her to learn to walk (although obviously plenty of kids w sit and still do fine walking). We just pull one or both of her legs out straight when we see her in the w.

W-sitting is really comfy and is nothing to worry about.

Anonymous wrote:I learned to sit like this as a preschooler copying some other children. I wish my parents would have intervened to prevent it. As an adult, my ability to easily W-sit is responsible for some serious IT-band issues that cause a ton of knee pain and even contribute to chronic back pain. It's been a major factor in preventing me from being the kind of runner I want to be--and while that might sound unimportant, I be worried about taking away this excellent form of exercise from my kids. I've also dropped a ton of money on physical therapy to strengthen the muscles around my hips and knees, which have a ton of extra looseness because of sitting this way as a child. If my kid started sitting this way, I'd do as much as I could to prevent it.

Interesting. I'm the PP with the 44 yr old brother who still sits like this. My brother is a serious runner, usually places in the top 3 for his age group and he lives on the west coast where a lot of people do marathons, and the only person I know who does not have knee, leg, form issues with the # of miles he trains. He also does Crossfit/swims/bikes but mostly runs. I never realized sitting in a W caused problems.

Anonymous wrote:But, wait, listen, if you're playing on the floor, with the "stuff" you're playing with is on the floor, too. this really is the most obvious way to sit.

If the stuff is on a play-table or something, the kids'll kneel or stand, instead.

So wouldn't it make sense to W-sit if the stuff you're playing with is on the floor? If you don't want him to do this, lift the toy up off the floor, no?

I think w-sitting is actually uncomfortable for most people, even kids with their greater flexibility. It is more comfortable to rest the bottom on one's legs rather than ground or even to lie on the ground to play--which is why most people do not w-sit.

I learned to sit like this as a preschooler copying some other children. I wish my parents would have intervened to prevent it. As an adult, my ability to easily W-sit is responsible for some serious IT-band issues that cause a ton of knee pain and even contribute to chronic back pain. It's been a major factor in preventing me from being the kind of runner I want to be--and while that might sound unimportant, I be worried about taking away this excellent form of exercise from my kids. I've also dropped a ton of money on physical therapy to strengthen the muscles around my hips and knees, which have a ton of extra looseness because of sitting this way as a child. If my kid started sitting this way, I'd do as much as I could to prevent it.