Crawling is to a baby as swimming is to a tadpole: true or false? It's probably been a while since the last time you had to answer such a question (especially if you haven't been enrolled in an academic institution recently), but go ahead and test your "parenting intuition" – see what your instincts tell you.

Did you answer true? There's surprising news if you did. Despite popular belief, crawling isn't a universal behavior in babies. Research has shown, in fact, that many babies skip crawling altogether in favor of scooting – and with little or no developmental consequences.

According to the National Science Foundation, babies develop based upon the opportunities they're given. Some cultures, such as those in the United States for example, encourage babies to spend a lot of time on their stomachs. Other cultures, such as those in Papua New Guinea, avoid placing their babies on their stomachs due to environmental concerns. The result? Despite the difference in cultural practices, babies in both cultures achieve the same result (i.e. walking) because they encourage muscular development and bodily movement.

"Scooting may be defined differently by some," says Dr. J. Mark Beard, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Washington. "Generally, it is an infant using either their hands or feet to push themselves along the ground or other surface without standing erect."

Scooting is simply a method that a baby can use as one of many locomotion techniques to facilitate both muscular development and bodily movement. It often resembles pushing – babies use their arms as a method to force themselves (or scoot) along the floor on their backsides. The tendency to scoot instead of crawl is not necessarily a problem. The most important thing as that the infant become mobile.

"These are normal developmental stages that infants go through," Dr. Beard says. "They may not have the ability to stand yet, but want to go somewhere. Some kids go from scooting to crawling to standing and then walking."

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