What do you suppose is the cause for most infant tantrums? Put yourself in their shoes... How would you feel if you wanted to eat or had a pain in your leg and you tried to tell your mother, only she didn't understand you. You keep repeating, hoping the words will come out correctly, but your tongue just isn't trained enough. Would you get frustrated? And, not knowing how to control your emotions...perhaps you would throw yourself down and start crying.
Research is showing that this really is the cause to most tantrums...lack of communication skills. So, how do we as parents combat this? Teach them something they can learn easier than spoken language. Sign language.
Sign language is great for our children for two reasons. First, it gives them a way to communicate with us sooner than if they simply wait for their tongue to cooperate. And second, they can take it into their lives and use it later, when perhaps they come upon someone who uses it as their only way of communicating. It is a second language.
Research also shows that children who know more than one language have a much greater aptitude for learning and go farther in life because of it. The more you teach a young child the more they want to learn. You actually program their brain to absorb greater quantities of knowledge.
My own son has a very limited spoken vocabulary so far: momma, daddy, more, and baba. But, his signing vocabulary is much greater: more, food, drink, please, hat, motorcycle, helicopter, bath, cracker, cookie, cereal, milk, cheese and signing video. And when we watch signing DVDs he will attempt many more signs. This allows us quite a lot of conversation to address his daily needs. He has started asking to watch his signing and reading videos now too.
This is relevant for your infant up through their toddler years. If you continue to grow their sign language vocabulary past when they begin to speak you should see a lower amount of tantrums throughout the "terrible twos".
Helping moms communicate with their children
Jennifer FitzGerald
BestInfantCrib.com
No comments:
Post a Comment