Communication and Correction.

After my previous post on the importance of communication, I thought I must add a post on the tips that I followed for my son. Also, the sad part of most kids is that they are absolutely addicted to TV /Mobile /iPad.... My recent visit to a restaurant made me realize that my decision on being an active part of my son's early life in terms of playing, talking, feeding him all myself proved to be a blessing in disguise. I happen to see a kid, about 6-7 years of age, who was with her family probably there to celebrate some occasion. As soon as she was seated she was handed a mobile and there she goes hooked up on to it. She did not even realize what she was eating or even if food was being served to her or not. I don't wanna be judgmental here, I understand the plight of working parents, but I will not sympathize with them because the future of their kids is their responsibility. A very important fact about our brain, we have a cognitive side of our brain. This develops maximum as a child and after that it just takes in what's fed into it like a computer. For this development it's very important that the child is involved in physical, mental activities which involve the child to watch, observe, learn, repeat and discover. For all this we need to constantly communicate and correct. Being hooked to mobile doesn't help and develop the cognitive skills.;



So, after the birth of my son, my talking to my son was never ending. I constantly made an effort to ensure that I was making it easy for him to understand and copy what I was doing and saying. I never thought of anything else but different ways of putting across things to him both verbally and with actions. I sang to him songs and rhymes. Called out alphabets and numbers, not that he should be an Einstein over night but it was part of being able to get him to learn and pick up speech. As he grew up I noticed that he was attempting to copy my gestures, the way my lips formed a shape when I spoke and this boosted my confidence and the talking continued.



Few quick tips that helped me.





1. Never say anything too quick. You will have to be a bit draggy. When I say dragging, I mean it. So if ur saying apple u might have to pull it and say aaaapppllee .





2. Always include actions when your saying something that can have actions involved. Like, when I started called out to him, I used to hold him hand tap on his chest and say you are Aarav. Or when he passed potty I would tap on his diaper and say "Aarav passed potty". This later on went to become a positive point. He started tapping on his diaper and letting me know he passed potty.





3. When you want to teach something like parts of body or fruits or vegetables. Show them to your baby. I hardly used pictures for him. I always showed them the fruit or vegetable and told him what it was. Also repeated it to him over and over. Like if I have him a banana, I told him "Aarav is now going to have a fruit, what fruit?? A banana!!" Whenever we purchaseed vegetables and sat to sort them out he used to crawl his way into the kitchen and that's when I used to show him different vegetables and call out their names.





4. Sing to your baby, baby's are attracted to music and the mother's voice can mean a lot to them. So whenever it's possible sing to them. Don't worry no one is Lata Mangeshkar ji.. For our babies we are their best singers.. So go ahead and sing.





5. Indulge in play time activities that will make your and you kid talk. Like playing a ball will make you say words catch or throw and since it involves action it's going to be a quick learning.





6. Always make an eye contact with your baby... It helps build and boost their confidence.





7. When they attempt to say something or do something, no matter how funny it sounds or looks don't laugh at their face it will make them feel low and they might loose confidence. Just encourage them to keep repeating it. My son used to say kuck for truck and I used to keep saying wow Aarav has seen a truck and after several attempts he started to say truck. That's why I said I was his confidence.



Correction.;



There was a beautiful post on " How to deal with Disobedient Kids by Aritra Raj. " She has already covered most of it. So I'm just adding my part. When correcting our kids, we at times become too harsh on them. Sometimes this may make the kid adamant and stubborn or take him or her into a shell. Be tough when you need to not all the time. Probably at times we need to talk and teach them. Sometimes, it's important to say "it's not that way, but this" instead of being blunt and saying "you are wrong." We need to be really careful on what we choose and how we choose to talk and put across our point..



If you are working, spend as much time as possible with your kid. If you have a baby sitter or nanny, remember to hire someone who talks clearly and your kids can understand what's being told and spoken. I know of a lady, who had hired a baby sitter for her boy who was just a month older than my son. But the baby sitter couldn't talk their language and what she spoke was unclear to the baby, so he too spoke gibberish. Hope, I was able to put across some good information for you all from personal experience.;





Happy Mom time.;