• Published by Salsabilatuzzahra Jaha S.Psi. from BehaviorPALS Center 

Every child will go through a period of development. The actual development period will occur during human life. However, there are several phases that become very critical and important, especially for children. During this period of development, children will learn a lot. Starting from language, motor or movement, affection or feeling as well as in terms of knowledge. One of the things that will also develop is motor skills. Motor skills are very important for children. So what are motor skills? And is there really a difference between the motor skills of boys and girls? Let's see the explanation further!

What are motor skills and how important are they?

Motor skills are basically abilities related to movement. Motor skills are divided into 2 parts, namely fine motor skills and gross motor skills. Quoted from the APA (American Psychological Association) dictionary website, fine motor skills are abilities that describe activities or skills that require the coordination of small muscles to control small and precise movements, especially in the hands and face. Examples of fine motor skills include handwriting, drawing, cutting, and using small objects. Meanwhile, gross motor skills describe activities or skills that use large muscles to move the trunk or limbs and control body posture to maintain balance. Examples of gross motor skills include waving, walking, jumping, and running. Both of these motor skills are very important and have their respective roles. Then how important and its impact?

The importance of motor skills.

Motor skills play an important role in everyday life. Gross motor plays an important role for human mobility in life. No less important as gross motor, fine motor also plays an important role in everyday life. Such as operating small objects such as writing, cutting, scooping food and others. So it is important to provide a good stimulus to children so that their motor development occurs maximally. In its development, a preschooler will also improve fine motor skills accompanied by visual integration. Poor fine motor skills can lead to increased anxiety, difficulty in academic performance and poor self-esteem.

Are there developmental differences between boys and girls?

Based on research conducted by Peyre etc (2019), by linking the differences and their causal factors based on environment and emotions. This study shows that girls may have better fine motor and language skills than boys at 2 and 3 years of age. At the age of 5 to 6 years, this difference is getting smaller and there is also no significant difference in language ability. This means that both boys and girls are the same. In motor development, the results of the study also indicated that there was no significant gender difference in gross motor development in children aged 2,3 and 5-6 years. This study also explained that the differences in fine motor and language development between the sexes at the age of 2 and 3 years were not explained by environmental differences, or differences in emotional, behavioral or social functioning. Researchers believe that this is due to biological factors that may play an important role in fine motor skills and language in girls.  

Conclusion

So it is true that there are developmental differences between boys and girls. Girls show fine and gross motor skills better than boys at the age of 2-3 years. This difference is very likely due to biological factors and differences in the biological structure of boys and girls. However, this difference is getting narrower and narrower so that no significant difference is found. There was no difference in gross motor skills. So parents don't need to worry when they find their children, especially their sons if they are slow in development. Because actually there is no significant difference and children also have their own developmental phases. However, if it is found that the child is not developing at the appropriate age, the parents can consult further with the experts.

By Salsabilatuzzahra Jaha from BehaviorPALS center

Source :

https://dictionary.apa.org/fine-motor

Peyre, H., Hoertel, N., Bernard, JY, Rouffignac, C., Forhan, A., Taine, M., ... & EDEN Mother–Child Cohort Study Group. (2019). Sex differences in psychomotor development during the preschool period: A longitudinal study of the effects of environmental factors and of emotional, behavioral, and social functioning. Journal of experimental child psychology, 178, 369-384.

motor skill, development, gender

Pre-school 2 Years - 4 Years / 2 Tahun - 4 Tahun (Balita) / Fine Motoric / Motorik Halus / Education / Pendidikan / Is it true that girls develop motor skills faster than boys?

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