Jenny On the Spot

I went to my MOPS meeting today. Our speaker was Linda A. Raquer MA, CCC-SLP. She spoke about listening to our children, and gave information on “red flags” to look for in a child\’s speech development. She is affiliated with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Neither of my children seem to have speech difficulties. Joel often stumbles for words and will repeatedly say “um” when he feels hurried to get out his words, but Linda said that is normal for a boy his age. She encouraged me to help him slow down — set the tone — so he doesn’t feel hurried. She said not to tell him to slow down, but to model it. She even said that when we read to him, to read slowly. Good food for thought…

I really enjoyed hearing her share because it was a good re-focus for me on the communication we have in our home. She encouraged us to take more time to LISTEN. She gave the example that we sometimes bombard children with questions (how was this, what did you do, what’s your name….) and that can take away from the direction or content of conversation that may have taken place. She also talked about letting the child direct the conversation (let them point to the picture, instead of the adult). I guess I didn’t realize how much I may control our experiences and communication.

She also talked about the fact that our society has become performance focused. We look for toys that educate, we quiz, quiz, quiz. It got me thinking about the daily interaction with my kids and the motivation behind teaching them throughout our day. It seems everyone wants to have the brightest child — Linda said, “We all want the cute little kid reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at 18 months”. I know I am guilty of wanting to impress the sock off others with the astounding knowledge of my toddler. Is that REALLY my goal for my kids? I’m thinking that goal is others-based, and has little to do with the child\’s actual learning. Read on…

Linda said“We want to raise an enthusiastic communicator with an interest in the world who has lots of interesting things to say.” Yeah! Now, that is what I desire for my children! I desire to see an excitement and passion for learning, not a child who knows the answers because that’s what he/she has been told. This is good stuff — life and family changing stuff.

So… how do I start? Like the title — listen and relax! Sometimes I feel so much pressure to work on the alphabet, numbers, colors, etc… However, I should listen more, and not stress if I’m not “teaching” Joel and Olivia enough! If I can spend more time listening and sharing in conversation and experiences with my young ones, all that learning and teaching is taking place! While pulling weeds yesterday, I got to “practice”. Joel and I had such a neat time talking and exploring TOGETHER.