Why You Should Take The Time To Teach Your Own Baby Sign Language

There's good news for parents and babies and its welcome news indeed. It's called baby sign language. The lack of a means for communication between a parent and a baby has always been frustrating for both parties. A parent hears their child crying and is helpless to understand what the baby wants. They do the standard checks, like feeling the diaper for wetness or putting their hand on the baby's head to check for fever. If neither of those turn out to be the problem, the child continues to cry and the parent tries to comfort the baby, not knowing what else to do.

With baby sign language, the lines of communication become open and helps put an end to this frustration. What is Baby Sign Language? Baby sign language is a new form of communication, combining hand gestures with word association. By using these gestures, parents are able to teach their children how to communicate what they want, before the child is able to speak. The learning abilities of children are limited to their senses such as sight, sound and touch. Because the learning method combines all of these senses, it is easy for the parent to teach and the child to learn.

How do you Teach Baby Sign Language? Teaching your child this communication skill is done by a method called modeling. Linking simple words with gestures does this. Your child might be too young to actually be able to make the gestures, but you can still begin to teach them the meaning of them. This way, when they are older and have better command of their bodies, they will already know the gestures to use to communicate with you. For example, whenever you are about to feed your child, before you do, say "eat" and make an easy hand gesture like pointing to your mouth. Make sure your baby can clearly see the gestures, so they can remember them.

Another good word to teach is "more". When you are rocking your child or doing something else that you know gives your baby pleasure, stop periodically and say "more", before beginning again. Also begin associating these words and signs with objects. Before handing them an item like a ball, say "ball". Start slowly and add on words gradually. This gives the baby time to learn and remember what you are teaching them.

It's important not to try to force them to learn these gestures. Let them pick it up at their own pace. Teaching your baby sign language is rewarding and by the time they are actually able to speak, they will already know the right words to use to let you know exactly what they need.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as Baby Gift Baskets Delivered at http://www.babygiftbasketsdelivered.com