Stimulating, Nurturing and Communicating With Your Child
To help your baby develop a good attitude about him or herself,
and to discover that life is exciting and wonderful, two things
are most important: talking and touching. All children are born
with the capacity to understand words and to learn to talk.
Children start to communicate their needs from the moment they
are born. When your baby hears your voice, he will stop what he
is doing and listen. At about four months old, your baby will
respond with noises when someone is talking to him. The first
sounds your baby makes sound like e's and eh's and a's. These
are called "discomfort sounds" of crying. A cry will sound like
e, eh, and a. Your baby also communicates with gestures, facial
expressions, and body movements.
Very soon after birth, a baby will also learn the sounds of ah,
oh, and oo. These are called "comfort sounds" and you can
usually hear them when your baby is content. Paying attention to
these different sounds helps to establish a way your baby can
talk to you. Every baby understands that when he makes these
sounds, his mother or father will respond by doing something. At
about six months of age, these sounds will show up in
combination. This is the point when your baby will start to
babble.
When your child starts "baby talk," your response should be
smiles and praises. Imitate that sound back to your child. When
you imitate these sounds, he'll probably say them right back to
you. Hug your child and tell him how pleased you are that he is
talking. How much and in what way our child will talk depends,
to a great extent, on you. A child hears his first words from
his parents and for the first few years most of the speech they
continue to hear is from you. If a lot of talking goes on in the
home, particularly directed to them, they will assume speech is
important. They will work harder at speaking and will talk
sooner and more.
Language develops by speaking with your child as much as
possible. Whenever you're feeding, changing, bathing, and
walking your child, talk to him. When you talk to your children,
they are learning to put words to certain actions and objects.
This helps your child express his needs in words. In order for
you to share more complicated thoughts and ideas, your child
must begin to develop language, speech at first and then
writing. Just a few simple sounds during the first year of life
will lead to the use of thousands of words by the time your
child is a teenager.
Another wonderful way to stimulate language development is by
reading to your child daily. You can read during the day or
before bedtime. Hearing your voice communicates love and
security to your child. Many parents tell me that their child
let's them know they want to be read to when they being a book
out of their book basket or shelf and hand it to their parent's
to read to them.
Children's feelings are a good way to stimulate and nurture your
child. Use words to describe how you think your child is
feeling: "Jane looks very unhappy right now," or "Tim is feeling
happy." Putting words to feelings will help your child express
how they feel. This is a lifelong skill that will benefit your
child's self-esteem and thoughts of himself. With the ability to
use words, phrases and sentences, your child gains mastery of
his environment by expressing his needs and understanding the
needs of others.
Your child is a natural born explorer. There are many ways to
help your child develop a sense of touch and stimulation, which
helps in his overall development. Every child likes to touch,
taste, grab, twist, bite, and pull on anything within their
reach. Giving your child safe things to play with and touch
helps their eye-hand coordination and sense of exploration. Here
are some ways to help stimulate your child's development: