Grandparents as Signing Teachers

I was blessed this Thanksgiving with the chance to spend the day with my two 18-month-old, twin grandchildren—Nate and Olivia. What a treat! The fact that they are signing up a storm made it especially exciting. Nate was enchanted with the flowers on the table, on the napkins, and on the buffet, pointing and sniffing—his sign for flower; Olivia was enchanted with the food, as usual, and made good use of the “more” sign.

The chance to be with them and watch them sign brought to mind the fact that grandparents make ideal teachers of signs—whether it be to their own grandchildren or to other children in their communities. The reason is that the experience of raising their own children enables them to recognize how helpful signs are in avoiding the tears and tantrums that arise when infants and toddlers need to communicate but simply can’t.

Grandparents also tend to have the patience and wisdom that come with years of dealing with people of all ages, enabling them to approach both parents and children with confidence and caring. Finally, from their life experiences they truly understand that successful communication fosters love and understanding—a wonderful gift for any grandparent to give--and to receive.

That’s why we are pleased that more and more grandparents are joining our Baby Signs Independent Certified Instructor (ICI) team. Our ICI program enables individuals to set their own hours and work as much or as little as they want, all the time earning income while helping families and childcare centers enjoy all the benefits that signing can bring.

If you are a grandparent or or know of one who might make a great Baby Signs teacher, pass along this link to a video describing our instructor program: https://www.babysigns.com/index.cfm?id=107

Happy Signing!

Linda

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.

Co-founder of the Baby Signs Program

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Helping Kids Feel Grateful

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to focus on the many things for which we should be grateful—from obvious things like food to eat and a warm bed at night, to the little, more subtle things like your toddler making the baby sign for "more" for the first time or a sunny day for a winter outing. The nice thing about Thanksgiving is that the specific focus on gratitude on this particular day makes it more likely that even very young children will “sit up and pay attention.”

However, I think we all can agree that feeling grateful and expressing gratitude shouldn’t be just a one-day-a-year thing. The more difficult challenge, therefore, is how to help children understand that these behaviors are important every day. It’s a worthy goal because research shows that kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches and feel more satisfied with their friends, families and schools than those who don't.

That’s why I was so glad to see a list of tips for how to foster gratitude in children included in an article prepared under the banner of the child-advocacy organization, Zero to Three. Here’s link: http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/social-emotional-development/raising-a-thankful-child.html .bab

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Linda Acredolo, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, the Baby Signs Program

Baby Signs Baby Says "Thanks"

Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is just a few days away. I love it because it’s an opportunity to gather with family, eat great food, and say “Thanks” for the many blessings we enjoy—including one another. Here’s a great story about how the ability of a baby to sign made Thanksgiving dinner extra sweet for one family. It comes from Stella, a former student of mine at UC Davis and great fan of the Baby Signs Program.

Stella and her parents traveled to Reno to share Thanksgiving with her sister, brother-in-law, and 3 kids—including 15-month-old Kayla, a great Baby Signer. Once everyone was seated at the table, Stella’s dad said a short grace and stood up to carve the turkey. Suddenly Kayla squealed and began to excitedly sign “apple.” Despite being offered some applesauce, Kayla kept repeating the sign even more determinedly. Finally, seemingly out of frustration, Kayla added a second sign—“Thank you” to her “apple” sign. It was then that her mom figured it out. At dinner time at Kayla’s house, instead of saying grace at the table, the tradition was to hold hands and sing the “Johnny Appleseed” song—the one where you “thank the Lord” for “the sun and the rain and the apple seed.” Kayla clearly felt that her grandfather’s grace wasn't good enough! Once everyone held hands and sang the song with real gusto, Kayla was satisfied and settled down to eat—no doubt saying a silent “thanks” that she’d finally gotten her message across!

Helping children learn to be truly thankful for the blessings in their lives is a challenge that every parent faces. Teaching the sign for “thank you” (fingertips moving in an arching motion outward from the chin) is a great way to get it started at a remarkably early age. And what better time to start than Thanksgiving!

American Academy of Pediatrics Gives Signing a "Thumbs Up"!

Well, we're back! After a busy 6 months focusing our attention on working with the Department of Defense and other agencies to bring the benefits of the Baby Signs Program into infant/toddler classrooms, we're recommitting ourselves to sharing information--not only about signing, but also about other important areas of development--with moms and dads looking for guidance as they meet the many challenges of being parents.

This information will often come in the form of brief parenting tips--that is, simple activities that can help you foster the development of specific talents, attitudes, or traits in your child.

But our very first message now that we're back is the exciting news that the American Academy of Pediatrics has formally endorsed signing as a valuable way to enrich your relationship with your child. Here's what they have to say:

"Infant sign language really does deliver on its promise of improved communication. . . It's easy to see why so many parents swear by it, why child care centers include it in their infant and toddler classrooms, and why it has become so commonplace as an activity of daily learning." (AAP's Heading Home with Your Newborn, 2011, pp. 173-174.

We are absolutely thrilled that it is our federally-funded research showing the positive effects of signing that has led to this recognition by the AAP. And to think it all started when I noticed my 12-month-old daughter making up her own sign for flower back in 1982. From that to a world-wide movement! Wow!

(To read our actual research papers, visit www.babysigns.com and click on "PARENTS." )

Baby Signs Potty Training Program Video Contest: Extended Deadline!

If you've used the Baby Signs Potty Training Program, you could win $200!

Baby Signs, Inc. is creating a television commercial to raise awareness about how fun and easy it can be to potty train babies before the age of two - and how doing so can help parents save money and contribute to a healthier environment.

You can be in this commerical! To audition, send a short video (1-minute or less) about your experiences with the Baby Signs Potty Training Program. You'll be talking directly to parents who haven't used the program, so here are some of the things they will want to know:

• Did the program make potty training easier or more fun?
• How old was your child when he/she potty trained?
• How did your friends and family react?
• How helpful were the products? (Potty Train DVD, Book, Whistle, Stickers)
• How much did you save in diapers?

These do not have to be professional-quality videos. They can be taken with your cell phone or web cam.

We will choose two videos to include in the commercial. If your video is chosen, you'll win a $200 American Express Cash Card! (Many thanks to our sponsor, Guideposts.org)
Submission Guidelines:

• Your video should not exceed 1 minute.
• Your spouse and/or child(ren) can be included in the video if you like.
• Your video must be in electronic format (mpg, avi or flv) or you can submit a link to the video on YouTube or another video sharing site.
• No purchase is necessary to submit a video, but you must have actually used the program to be eligible to receive the cash award.

By submitting your video, you grant Baby Signs, Inc. the right to use the footage.
Submission deadline: Extended to Sunday, June 6 at midnight PST. Send your video file to lindae@babysigns.com.If your video file exceeds 15mb, we encourage you to use www.yousendit.com (it's free if your file is less than 1 gig).

Good luck! We are looking forward to seeing your videos!

We're making a commerical and we want YOU to be in it!

If you've used the Baby Signs Potty Training Program, you could win $200!

Baby Signs, Inc. is creating a television commercial to raise awareness about how fun and easy it can be to potty train babies before the age of two - and how doing so can help parents save money and contribute to a healthier environment.

You can be in this commerical! To audition, send a short video about your experiences with the Baby Signs Potty Training Program. You'll be talking directly to parents who haven't used the program, so here are some of the things they will want to know:

• Did the program make potty training easier or more fun?
• How old was your child when he/she potty trained?
• How did your friends and family react?
• How helpful were the products? (Potty Train DVD, Book, Whistle, Stickers)
• How much did you save in diapers?
  

We will choose two videos to include in the commercial.
$200 American Express Cash Cards will be awarded to the winners.

Submission Guidelines:

• Your video should not exceed 1 minute.
• Your spouse and/or child(ren) can be included in the video if you like.
• Your video must be in electronic format (mpg, avi or flv).
• No purchase is necessary to submit a video, but you must have actually used the program to be eligible to receive the cash award.
• By submitting your video, you grant Baby Signs, Inc. the right to use the footage.

Submission deadline: Friday, June 4 at midnight PST
Send your video file to lindae@babysigns.com.If your video file exceeds 15mb, we encourage you to use www.yousendit.com (it's free if your file is less than 1 gig).

Good luck! We are looking forward to seeing your videos!

Baby Signs "Sign of the Week" AFRAID

Learning to identify and express feelings helps babies get a healthy head start in their social and emotional development. Watch this video with your baby and learn the sign for AFRAID!



Thank you to all of our Baby Signs Instructors and signing parents who contributed such fun photos and videos this week. If you have a photo or video for "sad," or "angry," - or a photo for our Father's Day video, please send it to info@babysigns.com.

Watch previous Sign of the Week videos
Request a sign
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