A baby's first steps are one of the biggest newborn milestones for parents. It is a sign that your baby is growing healthily and happily. However, when these steps are delayed over the period of time kids are expected to walk, that is a cause of great concern for parents. Many worries like whether the kid had an injury, or does it have any cognitive or motor disability that could be causing this delay? Usually, it is not a big concern for there to be a little delay; consult your pediatrician and follow their advice. Not all delays are bad, and a new study shows that babies who take a little more time to walk actually do better academically. According to the study published in the Nature Human Behaviour journal, late steps could be linked to better academic performance in kids. Why Is Taking Longer To Walk Better? Researchers have made a significant discovery about why some babies walk earlier than others. They've found a strong link between the age at which a baby takes those first wobbly steps and the genes they get from their parents. Even more surprisingly, their research shows that the very same genes that decide if a baby walks early or late might also play a part in how well they perform in their schoolwork. This means that our bodies' blueprints could influence both our physical development, like learning to walk, and our brain development, which helps us learn at school. The study also hints at another possible good thing about taking a bit longer to start walking. The researchers found that babies who walk later might have a lower chance of developing something called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. This is a condition that can make it hard for kids to focus and sit still. So, it seems that taking your time to walk might have some unexpected benefits for how kids' brains develop and how they behave as they grow up. What Role Do Genes Play In A Baby’s Growth? Researchers found that the same body instructions that make some babies walk later are also linked to doing better in studies and being less likely to have ADHD. She said that this was the first time scientists had looked at so many body instructions and how they relate to when babies start walking and other things like learning and attention. Experts also pointed out that there's a big range in when babies start to walk. Some start as early as eight months, while others take as long as two years, and most start around 18 months. Until now, scientists didn't really know all the reasons why some babies walk much earlier or later than others. This new study helps us understand some of the things that cause these differences in when babies take their first steps. Strong Link Between Genetic And Baby Development For a long time, scientists knew that things around a baby, like having space to move, affect when they walk. But this new study gives us strong proof that the instructions inside our bodies, our genes, are also very important. The scientists looked at the body instructions of over 70,000 babies and found 11 specific parts that seem to be connected to when a baby starts to walk. This shows us that both what's inside us and what's around us help shape how we grow and develop, even when it comes to taking those first steps.