Getting your point across....

I love this story from one of the moms in my Words by the Handful Baby Sign Language class.

Mom was at home feeding her 13 month old son. She offered him something that he wasn’t anxious to accept. Her attempts to convince him to try it escalated his refusals, and he was soon flailing and screaming.

And then he made a sign!

Dad was nearby and asked Mom “What did he just sign?!”

Mom, wide-eyed, translated: “He just told me to STOP!”

She did. The fussing stopped. It was all over.

Parents often ask me how to identify key ‘teaching’ moments for teaching signs to their kids. Well, this was one. In that moment, Mom reinforced in the strongest way that using signs as communication gets results.

Cause and effect. Very powerful stuff.

But what about the offending food? Well, ‘they’ say it takes many tries and weeks or months to get children to try and/or accept a new food.

This one will have its day….. but not just yet.

Share your favorite teaching moments – can’t wait to read them!