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I was concerned. They appeared to be normal but their measurements were far from it. In fact, the difference between front and back shoulder measurements could be as much as 6 full sizes – which really can’t even be properly addressed even by a custom dressmaker. But what was the cause? Why were we seeing so much of it? Then more and more I was hearing about it from dressmakers all across the country. And now manufacturers are telling me they are hearing about it from retail stores. There is definitely a problem - and it's growing. What is happening came to me when I was consulting with the family of an absolutely adorable 4-year old who was soon to be a Flower Girl. Her measurements were really unusual and indicated she needed a size 6 across the back shoulders but a size 2 across the front!. There is no way a garment can be made to properly fit proportions like these. She was obviously not an unusually large child. I watched as she moved around, sat and played. She bowed her head down in front of her – never really looking up. Her shoulders were broad and rounded forward. Eventually I realized what was going on, so I called her to a big, open window with an expansive view and asked her family to watch. “Look at that pretty birdie flying way up over there honey!” I said. She danced with glee watching the bird while we watched an amazing change in her posture. It was remarkable! She stood straight while she followed the bird with delight. Her shoulders went back, her chest straightened out – her whole countenance changed before our eyes – as her focus went further away and higher. Immediately, she stood straighter, rolled her shoulders back, looked up and out. Her posture changed radically before our eyes in a moment – and so did her measurements. They were very normal. After asking a few questions, we identified the problem – and it applies to many of our children today. Her life was “right in front of her” much of the time. “She reads a lot” her mother explained. She watches a lot of educational television. She loves her hand-held video games too. She is learning on the computer. And yes, she carries her things in a back pack. That explained it all. Her life was pretty much “in her lap”, which is why her posture was so crumpled forward. Carrying weight in the back pack emphasized the situation and was developing muscles that rolled her shoulders forward, collapsing her chest.
Gone are the days when children play with abandon outside all day. Gone are the days of “kick the can” and running for joy and skipping over rocks and playing in the pond. Girls no longer reach to hang laundry on a line and boys no longer stretch to paint fences. Am I trying to say “the good old days are gone?” No, I’m not giving up my dryer any time soon! What I’m saying is that our children’s lives are pretty much right in front of them and ‘in their laps. Think about it – they sit at school looking down at their desk, sit playing video games for hours, sit doing homework and reading in roughly the same position – and their world “becomes small”. They’re always looking down and close to them like constantly looking toward their feet. In fact, watching kids walking home from school the majority of them actually ARE watching their feet. Their day-to-day activities put them in a constant position where they roll their shoulders forward and look down. Almost all children wear back packs and many have to carry a load far too heavy for their frame and for far too long each day (just take a look at the kids getting off at the bus stop). Many sports contribute to this problem too – swimming and soccer particularly develop the shoulders in this way. I suspect that football does too. These factors develop the appearance of excessively broad shoulders across the back while it is actually collapsing the chest in front – and quite possibly lung capacity along with it. It doesn’t do much for their appearance, either. This type of posture also gives the body language signals of “insecure”, ‘timid”, even “target”. Beyond not looking as good as possible, the young person with this posture does not convey self-confidence at all. Girls end up being called “chubby” or “plus size” when they aren’t really at all. Boys are called “husky”, which is often psychologically associated with “athletic”. Athleticism is good – but what I’m talking about is bad. Is it their fault? I don’t think so. It’s a natural result. Adults need to be aware and take very active measures to counter act this issue before “back pack shoulders” become a permanent structural issue. We no longer put books on a young girl’s head to teach her to walk tall and gracefully. Finishing school and etiquette classes have pretty much fallen by the way side. We are no longer paying attention to these things as a whole. And a very BIG problem is developing. Our local PBS station runs a show called “Get Up! Get Out!” It’s all about what families can do together in the out of doors. Instead of doing a craft together around the kitchen table, it focuses on fun activities that develop us in healthful ways mentally and physically in the great out of doors. The more I see the “back pack shoulders” problem growing, the more value I see in this program. Telling a child to stand up straight on special occasions and "dress up" days won’t be enough to counteract all the muscle training going on in the child’s day-to-day existence. Our company frequently experiences the situation where a customer orders a dress based on the child’s measurements, then rants and raves about how “ridiculously huge’ it is on the child. Thing is, we know that our size charts are very accurate. If the parent selected a size even close to the child’s measurements, it should look lovely with only a few alterations. Could there be another factor? Could this hunched, rolled shoulder and pouched tummy situation be generating really bad measurements? That when they tell the child to “stand up straight, honey”, suddenly all the child’s proportions change and the dress simply won’t fit right based on the measurements they took on the child’s normal stance? Absolutely. In fact, it’s VERY likely. I was recently at an airport watching families go by. Tiny tots were hunched forward balancing the back pack loads across their shoulders just like the kids coming and going at the school down the road. The problem goes far beyond fitting issues. It goes beyond the issue of appearance too. It is interfering with development of health (like lung capacity) and good muscle tone. Be very careful. Beyond a measuring and sizing issue – it can become a life-long abnormality if we don’t do something about it! Let’s get out and move around. The world is huge and we should all experience it. Don’t let our study, reading and tv habits cause young bodies to develop improperly for their future.
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