Infancy is an amazing and incredibly fun time to be a parent. However, that doesn’t prevent it from being overwhelming as well. There are so many things you are reading, listening to and being told that makes you think that you may not be doing everything you need to to be the best parent possible. Don’t worry, every new mom and dad feel this way when they first welcome a new member to their family. Additionally, helping your child to develop in a healthy way isn’t always as hard as it seems.
Many parents are concerned about their child’s language skills starting very early. They want to make sure their kid is on pace with other children their age. The good news is, you can easily teach your child how to communicate without too much effort at all.
The short answer to how to make this happen is to teach your baby to talk by simply talking to them. Not only does this jumpstart the language development of your child but it also forms an incredibly important bond of trust between you and your son or daughter.
Since children learn best through imitation, it makes sense that listening to you speak would lead to an enhanced understanding of speech and words altogether. Additionally, it is important you understand that children do not learn language by talking to themselves; instead, these skills develop when they are interacting with other people.
Keep in mind that teaching your child isn’t about just communicating, but it also requires you to know how your child communicates and also why. By having a good understanding of these things, your child and you will be able to build a beautiful bond while also developing a new skill.
The First Six Months
From the moment of your baby’s birth, you can rely on them to enjoy you talking to them. These are the things that will happen with your child’s language and communication skills in the first six months:
- Your baby will learn to listen to your voice. Talking to your baby should happen as often as possible, including when you are feeding and cuddling her/him.
- Your baby will also really like to watch your face and look at your eyes and mouth while you are talking.
- Your baby will communicate with you in a number of ways. These include crying, looking, smiling and making noises. You, as the parent, need to respond to these signals.
- Copying the noises your baby makes to show them that you enjoy listening to them.
- Talk to your baby about what is happening as you interact with very simple language.
- Try to cut out any distracting noises like TV and radio.
From Six Months to One Year
As your baby gets older, he/she will begin to become much more sociable and will love being talked to.
- You and your baby can enjoy nursery rhymes and action songs together.
- Hold your baby in your lap so that you are face-to-face or get down on the floor to be close to your baby when you communicate.
- Watch what your baby is looking at and then say the word for whatever it is so that your child can begin to learn the right words for things.
- Make sure that important words stand out. Don’t be afraid to repeat them to your child over and over again.
- Continue listening to your baby to show that you enjoy all of the new sounds they are now making. Copy them back and wait to see if they will respond. This is all part of the developmental process of language.
- Use plenty of animation in your voice when talking to your child. The variations of sound you can make will intrigue your baby.
When It Comes Time For Childcare
Slowly over the next few years, your child will begin to develop a full vocabulary. When it comes time for you to put your kid in childcare, you want to make sure that you find the right facility that will continue to help build the language skills of your kiddo. At First Class Child Development, we place an emphasis on developing these skills from the get-go. Contact us today to learn more about our childcare!
