Difficulty coordinating large and small muscle groups and/or a lack of clarity about physical boundaries cause clumsiness — and both causes are basic characteristics of toddlers! The usual solution is years of practice. The school of hard knocks will teach them exactly where their body leaves off and the rest of the world begins.

However, some toddlers have a high threshold for pain, so the usual bumps and bruises don't teach them to stop before colliding with the chair, the end table, or the ground — or even with themselves. They step on their own feet and their own hand clunks them in the jaw. They may cry each time it happens, but they are so readily distracted that they forget to watch what they're doing and the same or similar accidents keep recurring. “Careful!” “Look out! “Don't hurt yourself!” “Next time, watch where you're going,” their hapless parents repeat as these seeming daredevils continue to knock and scrape and batter themselves in their heedlessly rough-and-tumble play.

But children aren't daredevils if they don't comprehend the risk. Warnings work only if youngsters know what to do to prevent another injury. They learn from their mistakes only if their intellect enables them to remember what went wrong last time, to figure out what to do differently when the same situation arises, and to concentrate to avoid a repetition of the same problem.

If warnings and frequent bumps don't slow your youngster down, provide comfort after she's been injured, and then encourage her to repeat the same movement, but this time without hurting herself. Praise her for being successful. Multiplied over many situations, this kind of concentrated teaching can help toddlers tune into the position of their bodies and be more aware of the proximity of their limbs, head, and torso to other objects. Meanwhile, encourage better body awareness by combining song and movement, such as the Hokey Pokey.