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Choosing the right chair for Virtual School

Updated: Sep 30, 2020

On-line school can potentially wreak havoc with kids’ posture, as they sprawl on the couch or sit at a desk with their feet dangling. By following a few simple principles, you can set up your child for success at the start of the school year, before unwanted habits become ingrained.




1. Choose the chair first. The devil is in the details!

  • Your child’s feet should be flat on the floor (not dangling)

  • Hips, knees and ankles should be at 90-degree angles

  • The child’s back should be supported against the back of the chair

  • The space between the back of your child’s knees and the front of the seat should be about 2 inches. If you can put a finger or two between the child’s knee and the front of the seat, you’ve got about 2 inches

  • The chair should be upright, not tilted back

2. The desk/table needs to fit the chair

  • The height of the table or desk top should be 2 inches above the elbow when your child is seated

  • A slanted desktop may help a child sit up straighter because it does not require him to bend his neck forward. When a child works on a slant he automatically extends the wrist, which puts his hand in an optimal position for neat efficient handwriting

  • Center the computer right in front of your child. A keyboard tray right below the surface of the desk is helpful to position the hands for comfortable keyboarding

  • To support back health, make sure your child uses the breaks between classes or assignments to get up and move around actively so when she sits back down her posture is upright and she can pay attention

  • I recommend having at least 2 ergonomically sound seating arrangements so that the kids can sit and work at their own desks with good posture and sit at the dining room or kitchen table for a family meal, game night or arts and crafts

  • My favorite chair to support healthy posture is the Stokke Tripp Trapp chair. It has a seat and footplate that can be easily adjusted to fit any table or desk, and  it grows with your child.


If your child needs to move around there are lots of chair substitutes that are great to mix in throughout the day, as long your child’s feet are firmly planted on the floor and the desk/table is the appropriate height, as above. Try a well inflated yoga ball placed in a planter tray to prevent it from rolling away, an accordion chair or a wobble chair

2 Comments


beatricejessie173
Jul 17, 2021

Although the Mets pitching has been far from perfect, it has performed remarkably well given the fact that the Mets have essentially had to forge a wooden raft rotation over the past week-plus of games. The emergency flotation device has some leaks, to be sure, but it has stayed afloat and kept the Mets alive during a time when they have two actual starting pitchers. I said when I wrote last week meter that the Mets were relying on Marcus Stroman to have a bounce back outing this week. And he did. Although he looked shaky early, Stroman ended up settling into a groove and putting together a brilliant outing on Friday night, at one point striking out fiv…

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jennifersmith2033
Nov 26, 2020

Nice effort. I Want to buy chair for my virtal university Classes. After alot of searching I visit a Website that provide different types of chairs in affordable price. The chair is very confortable and I attend my virtual classes very comfortably.

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