Omigosh. My baby is crying and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Why can't you talk to me? Well, maybe its because babies don't talk. Wrong. Babies talk all the time. They just don't use the English language.
Come on. Your babies turning blue in the face from screaming until her eyes are ready to pop out. She can't even catch her breath; she's exhausted from trying to tell you something! You've been there, Mom. The tears are her frustration because you aren't hearing her. Not hearing her? Helen Keller could hear her the way she's screaming. But your little bundle of joy thinks you're not listening! Why don't you get it?
The trouble is, your baby doesn't speak English and mom doesn't speak Bbbllfftt! What we have here is a failure to communicate.
But how about if both were on the same page? How about you teach your baby sign language?
Oh, sure, says you: Teach my baby to speak sign language. Well, I'll just schedule it right after her classical Greek lessons, but before her quantum physics course. Thank you for the suggestion and have a great day.
Hang on. Don't get your britches in a knot, there, Mom of the Year. It just so happens Wendy Jensen says you can teach your baby sign language. Wendy taught hers, and more importantly, she has taught hundreds of other moms to teach their kids sign language!
Sure you're skeptical. But I mean to tell you that Wendy did it. And she's not alone. Thousand of other moms have also taught their babies sign language. And not all of these moms went to Princeton (or even Boise State). Fact is, this is a pretty average group. Don't get me wrong, they are smart women. But they don't necessarily share the room with Iris Murdoch or Madame Curie. Truth be known, they are probably not as bright as you.
And that's not all. There are many other benefits when you teach your baby sign language.
Here's the first BIG benefit. From now on, little Gretchen will no longer have to scream at the top of her lungs because she wants you to know her toe, on the foot which she just removed from her mouth, hurts like heck because she just bit it with her new tooth. Now she can let you know in signs!
And hold on there, mama, there are side benefits, too. Long lasting ones.
Young kids develop better language skills when they have learned sign language as a baby. Kids don't have to have hearing impairment to be helped. They are helped because they learn to communicate better. They will be much more interested in the world around them. Now who would have guessed that? But it's true.
Here are some possible reasons it works out this way:
Kids are mimics. They want to shave like daddy or wear high heels like mommy (hopefully gender appropriate). Sign language starts them mimicking their parents at an earlier age. Hence they do adult things at a younger age than other kids.
And If you are going to be a mimic, first you have to be a quick-study. You can't dance like Britney without first watching (studying) Britney dance. Pretty logical. Therefore, signing develops attention skills. Kids study the person signing in order to "hear and understand" This keeps kids focused and their little mushy brains working full speed to keep up. And they love it!
Teaching your kids sign language is fun. Kids think they are playing an action game (side point: kids love action games!) because signing takes action.
Think about it from your little angel's viewpoint. Instead of mom telling her "Ssshhh!" (kids hate the word "Ssshhh"), or being dumped back into the crib (kids hate being dumped back into the crib), her mom is giving her a whole bunch of positive attention.
Now, are we saying if you teach your baby sign language she is guaranteed a full blown scholastic scholarship to an Ivy League school? Sure why not. Or at least she will have a jump start on everyone else. Kids that learn that learning is fun, well, now, they are set for life. So when you teach your baby sign language, it's like the sage old advice: Give a baby a fish and she eats today. Teach a babyto fish and you feed her for a lifetime. Well, kinda like that. The point being, the benefits to your little angel are not just for right now. She will benefit for her whole life.
Come on. Your babies turning blue in the face from screaming until her eyes are ready to pop out. She can't even catch her breath; she's exhausted from trying to tell you something! You've been there, Mom. The tears are her frustration because you aren't hearing her. Not hearing her? Helen Keller could hear her the way she's screaming. But your little bundle of joy thinks you're not listening! Why don't you get it?
The trouble is, your baby doesn't speak English and mom doesn't speak Bbbllfftt! What we have here is a failure to communicate.
But how about if both were on the same page? How about you teach your baby sign language?
Oh, sure, says you: Teach my baby to speak sign language. Well, I'll just schedule it right after her classical Greek lessons, but before her quantum physics course. Thank you for the suggestion and have a great day.
Hang on. Don't get your britches in a knot, there, Mom of the Year. It just so happens Wendy Jensen says you can teach your baby sign language. Wendy taught hers, and more importantly, she has taught hundreds of other moms to teach their kids sign language!
Sure you're skeptical. But I mean to tell you that Wendy did it. And she's not alone. Thousand of other moms have also taught their babies sign language. And not all of these moms went to Princeton (or even Boise State). Fact is, this is a pretty average group. Don't get me wrong, they are smart women. But they don't necessarily share the room with Iris Murdoch or Madame Curie. Truth be known, they are probably not as bright as you.
And that's not all. There are many other benefits when you teach your baby sign language.
Here's the first BIG benefit. From now on, little Gretchen will no longer have to scream at the top of her lungs because she wants you to know her toe, on the foot which she just removed from her mouth, hurts like heck because she just bit it with her new tooth. Now she can let you know in signs!
And hold on there, mama, there are side benefits, too. Long lasting ones.
Young kids develop better language skills when they have learned sign language as a baby. Kids don't have to have hearing impairment to be helped. They are helped because they learn to communicate better. They will be much more interested in the world around them. Now who would have guessed that? But it's true.
Here are some possible reasons it works out this way:
Kids are mimics. They want to shave like daddy or wear high heels like mommy (hopefully gender appropriate). Sign language starts them mimicking their parents at an earlier age. Hence they do adult things at a younger age than other kids.
And If you are going to be a mimic, first you have to be a quick-study. You can't dance like Britney without first watching (studying) Britney dance. Pretty logical. Therefore, signing develops attention skills. Kids study the person signing in order to "hear and understand" This keeps kids focused and their little mushy brains working full speed to keep up. And they love it!
Teaching your kids sign language is fun. Kids think they are playing an action game (side point: kids love action games!) because signing takes action.
Think about it from your little angel's viewpoint. Instead of mom telling her "Ssshhh!" (kids hate the word "Ssshhh"), or being dumped back into the crib (kids hate being dumped back into the crib), her mom is giving her a whole bunch of positive attention.
Now, are we saying if you teach your baby sign language she is guaranteed a full blown scholastic scholarship to an Ivy League school? Sure why not. Or at least she will have a jump start on everyone else. Kids that learn that learning is fun, well, now, they are set for life. So when you teach your baby sign language, it's like the sage old advice: Give a baby a fish and she eats today. Teach a babyto fish and you feed her for a lifetime. Well, kinda like that. The point being, the benefits to your little angel are not just for right now. She will benefit for her whole life.
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By the way. You are a great parent. Why not visit our blog: "About the Family". We talk about all kinds of neat stuff. In English.
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