It May Look Like a Scribble, but It’s Really . . .

This week's entry is something I've taken not from the Baby Signs book but from another book Dr. Susan Goodwny and I wrote for parents called Baby Minds

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If you’re like most parents who mount their little tykes art work on the refrigerator, you’ve “oh-ed” and “ah-ed” over lots of scribbles, still waiting for the day when the drawing of “Mommy” is at least a stick figure with recognizable head, torso, arms, and legs. What most parents don’t realize, however, is that even those supposedly random scribbles can truly represent something as far as the child is concerned. How can you know?

Ask your child what she has drawn. If she says “Mommy,” ask her to point to where Mommy’s hair is, Mommy’s belly button is, Mommy’s feet are. Chances are good that by age 2 ½, she’ll point respectively at the top, middle, and bottom of her scribble. If instead your child say’s it’s a “car,” ask him or her where the roof and the wheels are. You get the idea.

According to developmental psychologists, this ability to endow a scribble with “representation” is, itself, worthy of sincere “ohs” and “ahs.” The reason is because it’s a sign that the child is carrying a symbolic relationship (between the real object and the scribble) in his/her head, an indication of a great developmental leap in intellectual flexibility.

So, next time your child proudly produces a scribble rather than something recognizable, smile, secure in your new found knowledge that there’s truly more there than meets the eye!

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to visit us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis
and
Co-Founder, The Baby Signs® Program

Parents as Memory Motivators

Babies start remembering things from the day they are born—which way to turn my head to get fed or that Mom’s likely to come when I cry. But these memories are not available to conscious memory. They are the result of repetition of experiences and are laid down automatically. It’s what we call learning!

When language begins to click in, whether signs or words or both, a whole new tool set is available to help boost memory. The availability of words to hang memories on, so to speak, really increases a child’s ability to remember and to do so at a conscious level.

The dawning of language, however, helps memory development in another, less obvious, way. It provides a stronger motivation to try to remember—and parents play an important role here. As children begin to comprehend what is being said around them, they become motivated to join in the conversations, and many of those conversations involve things that happened in the past. “Remember what we did today? We went to the zoo! And do you remember what animals we saw?” What’s more, it quickly becomes clear to children, that Mom and Dad are especially pleased when the children themselves remember.

The implication is clear. If you crave cozy interactions with these big folks, then learn to play the memory game! And how do they go about learning it? By paying attention as adults model good storytelling. Adults literally teach their children about beginnings, middles, and endings by structuring their own narratives in an organized way: “Remember we saw the flamingos when we first went through the the gate? And then we went into the snake house…..”

Given all this, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that children whose parents engage their young children in more conversations about the past are more likely to have better memories.

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, the Baby Signs® Program
and
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis

Promoting “Emotional Intelligence” in Your Child

As most of you know, Dr. Susan Goodwyn and I are the authors of Baby Signs, the book based on our NIH-funded research that launched the sign-with-babies movement back in 1996. What many of you may not know, is that we followed up with two other books for parents, Baby Minds and Baby Hearts, both drawing from child development research and full of fun games, tips, and advice to help parents meet the challenges of raising kids.

One of our goals with Baby Hearts was to point out to parents that helping children identify emotions—both their own and others’—is a critical ingredient in enabling them to interact in a constructive and self-evaluative way with other people as they grow up. What’s more, it’s important that the emotions include not only positive ones like happiness, gratitude, and empathy, but also negative ones like anger, fear, frustration, and jealousy.

So, how can you help your child achieve such “emotional intelligence?” Below are a few tips:

Play the “show-me” game. Make a game out of matching words to facial expressions by taking turns naming an emotion for the other person to demonstrate.

Use emotions in pretend play. As you play “tea party,” “grocery store,” or any other pretend scenario with your child, remember to involve emotions. These are especially good opportunities to help your child express negative emotions like frustration, anger, and sadness.

Encourage puppet play. Puppets enable children to distance themselves from feelings they might be afraid to express otherwise. (In fact, eavesdropping on the pretend scenarios in which your child engages on his/her own is a good way to get a sense of what your child’s inner world is like at any given moment.)

Play the “Silly Song” game. Take turns singing familiar songs, such as the “ABC Song” or “Mary had a Little Lamb” with different emotional intonations and facial expressions. Your child will have fun suggesting what you should do next. (“Sing it like you’re angry!”)

These are all fun and easy ways to not only give your child practice with emotions, but also to send the important message that you are open to talking about even the “not so nice” ones.

Happy Signing (and don’t forget to visit us on Facebook)!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, UC Davis
and
Co-Founder, the Baby Signs® Program

Say Good-bye to Diapers in Honor of Earth Day!

Yesterday was Earth Day, a good time for all of us to reflect on what we can do on an individual basis to promote the health of our environment so that our children will inherit a verdant, health-inducing world rather than one increasingly beset with man-made environmental (and health-reducing) problems. Well, one thing many parents can do is get their baby out of diapers a lot earlier than is the norm these days. The mean age in the United States is about 37 months—and climbing as bigger and bigger disposable diapers become available. This is a far cry from earlier, pre-disposable diaper times when children where routinely trained by 18 months. What the trend toward later and later potty training means for the environment, of course, is more diapers and human waste in our landfills—where the remnants will remain for 500 years per diaper or more! (If you’re interested in a few more shocking details about diapers and the environment, watch the National Geographic piece on the topic at www.pottytrainwithbabysigs.com.) As many of you know, we at Baby Signs are anxious to help parents get their babies out of diapers as soon as possible—hopefully by age 2—both for their own benefit and for a healthier environment. To this end, we’ve developed a potty training kit complete with step-by-step instructions and tips for Mom and Dad as well as resources to motivate babies younger than 2-years to “Climb on board the Potty Train!” After all, being motivated is really what “being ready” for potty training boils down to once children. The bottom line? If kids in the past were trained by 18 months, there’s no reason that can’t happen today—especially with a little help from the Baby Signs® Potty Training Program. Happy Signing (and don’t forget to visit us on Facebook)! Linda Linda Acredolo, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, UC Davis and Co-Founder, the Baby Signs® Program