After the cute and clumsy stage of learning to walk, my daughter quickly developed a new skill: toddling on her toes. People urged me to put her in ballet as she tiptoed around in her soft-soled shoes. I bought her a tutu, signed her up for an intro to dance class and figured she was destined for stardom. But then another mom crushed my dreams, telling me her son also walked en pointe, and he wasn?t a prodigy?he was born with a short Achilles tendon. At my daughter?s two-year checkup, our doctor concluded she had tight calf muscles and recommended a few simple stretches. 
Toddlers are a curious bunch and often spring onto their little piggies to catch some of the action that?s happening above. And in the first six months of independent walking, it?s normal for them to spend some time on their toes, says Liesa Persaud, a paediatric physical therapist who gives seminars on toe-walking around the world. However, ?if your child is on their toes for longer than six months, it?s problematic, and you should get it looked at,? she says. During that period, their tiptoeing should be decreasing. There are a number of reasons a child may continue walking on their toes, but often no underlying cause can be found. A study published in the Pediatrics found that five to 12 percent of healthy kids toe-walk for no apparent reason. Sometimes it becomes an unconscious habit and is even encouraged by parents who think it?s cute (oops!). The cause could be as benign as going through a growth s...