Language development is one of the primary ways children learn to interact with their environment, which is why you should learn the power of positive language if you are looking to communicate more freely with your toddler.
Children are constantly learning to form positive and negative associations with the environment, allowing them to become engaged with their surroundings.
Let’s explore how you can encourage children’s development by using positive language, such as baby talk.
How to Use Positive Language With Children
It can take up to three years before your child is able to repeat words, which can be encouraged through the use of positive language or baby talk that is designed to capture your child’s attention through tonality.
One of the ways you can do this is by holding your child’s favorite toy in front of them and excitedly describing what it is, making it possible for the kid to understand what the words mean.
If you’re engaging in a fun activity with a kid, you need to first get their attention by calling their name, allowing you to talk about what you’re doing together. This can help them understand the words better because you’re controlling your tone, holding their attention, and helping them make sense of your speech by using positive language.
Now that we’ve established you need to hold a kid’s attention before anything else, let’s explore some ways to use positive language.
1. Play Together
Playing with your toddler ensures that you engage their attention, especially by making funny noises and silly faces, forcing them to laugh and have a fun time, which encourages language development.
It's important for you to give yourself permission to act silly since adults can often get stuck in their heads, especially when in public. However, being a parent means you learn to put your kids' needs before your own, and many find that they are no longer as limited by social norms as they used to be.
Once you get into a flow where you’re enjoying having fun with your kid, which is, in essence, bonding in its purest form, you’ll find that your kid becomes incredibly receptive to the words you utter.
2. Make Comments Instead of Asking Questions
One thing parents need to keep in mind when using positive language with children to encourage their language development is that they should make comments and statements instead of asking questions.
What does this look like?
If your child is in the middle of an activity, such as walking or interacting with the environment, comment on what they're doing instead of questioning their actions, which can become confusing.
Kids have a knack for understanding words much better if they’re already performing an action and someone describes it, making it possible for them to conceptualize it in a more sophisticated way, which is through language.
Although we learn (firstly) by acting something out, we can learn to articulate it, which improves the way we internalize the behavior.
3. Give Them Time to Think
You’ve got to remember that being patient is crucial if you’re trying to encourage children’s development through positive language since kids need more time to think than grownups.
It takes time for children to develop the necessary cognitive faculties, making it your job to let them absorb the activity or behavior and what your words might mean, signify, or imply.
Holding their attention, giving them sufficient response time, and eagerly anticipating their reaction makes it safe for them to respond appropriately without feeling rushed or pressured, which leaves a mark on their subconscious.
4. Speak Simply and Repeat Your Words
If you’re trying to communicate with kids and want them to understand what you’re saying, you should use simple sentences since that is more likely to garner their attention and help them understand your words.
If it’s their mealtime, you can say things like ‘time for food’ or ‘lets eat food’ so they learn to associate your words, which are essentially sounds at that point, as the cue that leads to a reward or conclusion, i.e., food.
In the early stages of development, you’ll get the best developmental results from keeping it short and simple, which can slowly become more sophisticated as the kids fully understand what the words signify.
Once your kid begins to learn, you’ll notice that they begin to understand more complicated forms of speech before they can say the words out loud.
Final Verdict
Encouraging children’s development through positive speech is an excellent way to help them learn faster and develop the appropriate cognitive faculties for understanding speech and listening attentively.
However, you should always remain patient and give them time to respond without putting any pressure on them since kids can absorb secondhand emotions.
Stand Out Daycare offers excellent opportunities for children to learn from the power of positive language. Click here for more information.
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