May 28, 2006

Words! Words! Words! They may be a limited way of expressing ourselves, but they are the best system we have for now.

So you are talking to your child. Even reading to him or her. Feel free to add words to the story when you think it will enhance the experience of the book. Young children have a limited attention span, so you'll want to stretch it any way you can.

For instance, I was reading my first book, Froggy Hollow, to my grandson when he was 1 year old. One of the lines is "Two frogs splash water in your face." After reading this part, I pretended to spash/flick water off my fingers and into his face. While I did this, I said "Splash! Splash, splash, splash!" It didn't take long for him to pick up this phrase and splash his own fingers at me. So I have become Grandma Splash! He reminds me of it every time I see him.

Words are one of the things that connect us as human beings. They give us opportunities and challenges for communicating thoughts, emotions, ideas and creativity with each other. It may not be a perfect process, but until something better comes along.....talk, talk, talk.