Sign with your baby

Every parent feels the frustration of trying to figure out what is the reason of their baby’s sudden cry; we often wonder what is going on inside her little head. It is hard for the adult and harder for the little one that feels the frustration of trying to communicate her needs without mastering the basics of the articulated language.

Now, imagine how wonderful your life would be if you could stop playing that guessing game and learn a way in which you could communicate with your baby, and she could really communicate back.

Research has shown that babies exposed to sign language from as early as 6 months of age, start using this form of communication by the ninth month.

As strange as this idea may sound, it is based on the children’s natural predisposition to use their own gestures to communicate with the outside world, pointing at objects and using their body language in different ways to convey their intended meaning.

Signing with babies is gaining more and more popularity, being of benefit not only to the babies but also to the parents.

For babies, these include such benefits as:

• Less time crying. Signing allows your baby to communicate clearly, allowing more positive interactions between parents and babies.

• Signing reduces frustration. Babies feel less frustrated when they are able to communicate their needs, parents can now respond to those specific needs and identify pain or injuries.

• Increases children self-confidence, sense of empowerment.

• Increased language development. Research shows that babies who sign usually talk sooner and develop a wider vocabulary, they also show more interest in books.

• Increased IQ! It has been claim that babies who sign have an IQ 12 to 14 points higher than other children by the age of seven.

• It creates a special bonding experience between parents and children, which contributes to babies’ happiness.

Since the development of the Sign with your baby program, the method has been used in many different countries, receiving numerous awards and covered by different media around the world.

Sign with Your Baby: How to Communicate with Infants Before They Can Speak is the book in which the American child development expert Dr. Joseph Garcia teaches you step by step how to communicate with your baby.

The Continuum Concept

After spending two and a half years among the Yequana Indians in the Amazon jungle, Jean Liedloff wrote about her experiences and findings in a thought provoking book. In this anthropological study she writes about her conclusions regarding children’s upbringing from a natural, instinctive point of view.

The main idea behind The continuum concept is that in order to become happy and confident adults, our children need to have fulfilled the expectations that as species, the human beings have developed through their process of evolution.

Among these expectations are:

• Babies need to be carried constantly in arms from birth until crawling age. According to Liedloff, in this way they are always present, always learning about life until they are ready to become part of their society.

• Co-sleeping with their parents until they feel ready to sleep alone.

• Breastfeeding on demand, responding to babies’ body signals. According to Liedloff, Yequana parents are always available when their children need them, responding to their body signals without judgment or sign of displeasure.

Children from very young age are respected and trusted as individuals, included in their parents’ daily activities and allowed to learn and explore their surroundings.

They rarely cry and, contrary to the popular belief, children raised in this way don’t become “spoiled” but happy, independent individuals with great self-esteem.

The Continuum Concept is in its twenty-sixth printing and has been translated into sixteen languages. If you are interested in natural, instinctive parenting, then this book is a must!

Header Photo Credit

Photo Credit: derPlau

We couldn't find a place in the header to include a link with a credit to the photographer, so we decided to include it here.

The header photo we are presently using in this blog is by derPlau. You can check this and more photos of this great photographer following the link provided.