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.
When your baby is screaming at the top of her lungs, her face blue from lack of oxygen intake, and her eyes are bulging out like one of the muppets, you think, just maybe, it’s because she’s trying to tell you something? Good guess. Her tears are from utter frustration because even though she’s making more noise than a rock concert, she thinks you can’t hear her! If you were listening you’d help her!
You see, this can be summed up in the famous words uttered by Strother Martin as Captain in that great 1967 film “Cool Hand Luke:” What we got here is…..failure to communicate.” Okay, if you’re a new mom you probably weren’t alive in 1967, but you get the point. You see your baby doesn’t speak English. She speaks Bbllfftt.
But how about if both were on the same page? How about you teach your baby sign language?
Wow. I thought you were going somewhere with this advice. Okay. I’ll teach my baby sign language. I’ll just squeeze it in between her organic chemistry class and her Vaganova ballet class. Hey, that was a great suggestion. Have a wonderful 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!
You are, naturally, skeptical at this point. But Wendy did it. And so have thousands of other moms out there. And these moms didn’t all go to Yale (or even South Eastern Missouri State). Tell you the truth, these moms, on the whole, are a pretty average bunch. Good people, but not necessarily on a par with Madame Curie or Susan Sontag. In fact, probably not as bright as you! After all, you are reading this article!
Okay. Now if that weren’t enough, there are still MORE benefits from teaching 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!
But just hold on, there, mama. There are other lifetime benefits.
Sign language helps kids develop better language skills. It’s true. Even kids that have no hearing problem. Why, you ask. Because they communicate better. Turns out they are more interested in what goes on around them. Now who would have thought? But this is true.
Here’s a few reasons why it probably works 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!
Your kid will think signing is a form of action game. They love it!
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.
If you give a baby a fish, she eats today. Teach your baby to fish and she’ll eat for a lifetime. Get it? If you teach your baby sign language, will she end up with a full scholastic scholarship to Dartmouth. Sure, why not? Of course there is no guaranty. But for sure she will have a jump start on every other kid. Because she will learn early that learning is fun. Teach your baby sign language and she will benefit her whole life.
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Thanks for the post. Great writing skills by the way. It is really good to have people like you in our comunity