ideas to make child sit upright?

[Barly]

7 years, and I've tried to make him sit upright at the dining table and his desk for about 6 of those.

How do I get him to do that? I explained how bad slouching is for his (future) back, and (much less so) that he makes a very different impression when he's sitting upright. I showed him that "reasonably upright" is rather relaxed. I think he understands all of that, but simply forgets, and I don't want to ruin every time we're eating together with constant reminders. (Now he got an old-style writing exercise in school: 10 times "I shall sit properly at my desk"...)

Any ideas? I thought of something like three (or five) reminders -> one film less. (Where a film is about a quarter of an hour - he's watching maybe two or three things a day on CBBC.)

Work on his core stomach muscles. The wii fit and wii u fit has some awesome exercises for the stomach muscles.

Swimming is also good but if you are starting from scratch you need targeted exercises first

Reminders are pointless if the core stomach muscles aren't great

And have a chat with school about their approach

Is this a thing we should worry about? I have honestly never really thought about it, nor particularly noticed how my 7 year old sits at the table as long as they aren't jumping around.

And then he'll be more inclined to do that, more or less automatically? Good that he's started swimming once a week then just some months ago!

But it's more about the habit of slouching, I'm afraid.

If your core stomach muscles are rubbish you will naturally flop because you do not have the strength to hold your body up. Some signs of having weak core muscles are being very "leany", resting on arms, fidgetting, swinging legs slouching . To the extreme you find a child who is more inclined to lying down.

Yes your child will sit up significantly easier if they have strong core stomach muscles.

If it us enough of an issue that school feel it is impacting on school work look into a seating wedge (I think it is called a move and sit) which tips the pelvis into a better position. I'm totally at a loss as to why lines helps the child at all.

You can swim without using the stomach muscles so much (did it for years growing up). You need to target them and get them working first then swimming becomes good for the core

Maybe try this, OP? Oops, I'm too slow - PP has mentioned it already!

www.amazon.co.uk/Gymnic-Kids-Movin-Sit-Cushion/dp/B000FPYHAE/ref=pd_sim_200_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=51Ss%2BVtS5pL&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL160_SR160%2C160&refRID=044CXRZX2AEP3RWANZYQ

I agree the school's approach is pointless and incredibly old-fashioned. It's always better to use positive methods.

One session of swimming a week isn't going to help much, though it's a start - is he generally active? Even getting out for regular - longish - family walks would be helpful.

Add some "tummy time" to his day (yes, I see he is older, but if his core is weak, he still needs it).
E.g. when he is reading/playing with Lego/ on his tablet - have him lie on his tummy with the toy/book in front of him.
If it's his core that is causing the problem, he won't like it and will quickly move to sitting up or lying on his side instead.
See how long he can tolerate and build it up.

Yes, the school's approach is nonsense. I just mentioned it to show that they saw it, too.

Yep, core muscle strength and also you might want to have him checked for hypermobility.