communicate with your baby using sign language
Many people are amazed that babies as young as 30 weeks old can learn to use sign language, thinking “How can that child, when she can’t even talk?” But babies have always signed, albeit on an informal basis. Babies develop the muscles in their hands before they develop the fine muscles of the mouth required for speeach. Thus, babies are equipped to communicate with you with their arms and hands before they can talk. Most children invent their own signs in order to convey their thoughts. For example, children often hold their arms out when they want to be picked up and held. This, of course, is a form of communication.
Signing with your child is good for you and your baby. In this article, we examine the effects of singing with your baby and some evidence of the benefits of teaching baby sign language. You can be assured, signing with your baby is a great thing.
The talk. The fact that a child cannot yet speak does not mean she cannot understand. In fact, children understand a great deal before they can talk. So be careful what you say in front of your toddler! Remember, the reason babies don’t talk isn’t necessarily because they cannot understand. It may just be beacuse they cannot control the movements of their mouth that are necessary to produce good speech. Those muscles are undeveloped until babies are almost two years old. But at a much earlier age, children can control the hand movement necessary to produce signs. So don’t underestimate your little toddler. She will questionbecomes whether or not baby should use sign langauge. The single biggest myth about teaching a baby sign language is that it can delay the baby’s speech. Nothing could be more untrue that signing is in any way= associated with delayed speaking. Research shows that signing children develop spoken words much more quickly than non-signing children. Signing is both physically and cognitively stimulating for children. It stimulates your child’s visual, auditory and knisthetic senses. In fact, studies on the effects of baby sign language reveals that signing may be beneficial to those children with speech development problems. And signing children typically become smarter adults, more intelligent than non-signging children|babies So, have no doubt, teaching your child to sign is good for her overall development.
Notwithstanding your child’s overall development, there is a better reason to teach your baby to sign. Sign language allows parents to communicate with their pre-verbal children! The frustration of not understanding what a baby wants or needs is a primary source of the stress in parents’ lives. Those parentswho teach their babies to sign avoid much of this frustration. Plus, a child’s ability to communicate with others at an early age enhances her overall development. Interaction on a social level is crucial to a child’s development progression. By teaching a baby sign language, she communicates earlier and more frequently. This provides more outlets for her to express her emotions and communicate with other children and adults. Ultimately, she will be more advanced, socially and cognitively, than children of the same age who did not grow up signing. So go ahead, have fun with teaching baby sign language.
Filed under Parenting | Comment (0)silver charm bracelets For Mother’s Day
With Mother’s Day bearing down, busy husbands and sons may feel overwhelmed by the need to find the right gift for Mom, or the mother of their own children. Every woman has her own favorites, but there are some quick ways to find the right gift without spending a week roaming the stores on-line and at the mall.
My advice is to forget what your buddies are doing and focus in on your gift recipient. Seriously, by remembering what she values most, you can save lots of time with the guarantee of warming her heart.
You are buying some flowers, right? That’s a no-brainer. But flowers and a card are just the start of a great mother’s day gift. The best gifts come in themes, and complement each other. For starters, take a moment and ponder how your Mom or wife relaxes when she has the chance. This is the key to a creative and unique gift opportunity. Perhaps it’s a flexible appointment for a massage, or maybe it’s a new mystery novel and a box of her favorite tea. You may have to ask her friends, because sometimes this is what she does when you are not around!
To really wow your Mom or wife for Mother’s Day, consider jewelry. Buying jewelry does not have to be an ordeal, nor does every piece need to have a huge, glamorous gemstone. Rather, I encourage you to think in “themes” again: what jewelry accessory can you find that would accentuate a piece of jewelry she already has? For example, she may have a sterling silver gemstone necklace that she wears for special occasions. So choosing amongst silver charm bracelets would be fantastic in this case. Or she may have a pearl necklace that she wears out to dinner often. In this case, a pearl and silver bracelet, or better yet, a pearl ankle bracelet, would give her another reason to go out more often.
The beauty here is that no one knows your special lady like you do. By focusing on her unique preferences, you can easily find a great gift that she might think, “Why didn’t I have this already?”
Filed under Kids and Teens | Comment (0)The Advantages of Hiring a Wedding Planner
I did not hire a wedding planner when I got married. I should have. It would have made my life a lot easier. Yes, I made it through the event. The wedding happened and it was… well, a wedding. Best of all, I married a wonderful man and had all my family and friends around to help us celebrate. But it could have been much better with the assistance of a wedding planner / coordinator / consultant / designer (yes, there are subtle differences, but for the most part the terms are interchangeable) it could have been much more memorable. For more information refer to wedding coordination
Now that I have worked in the industry for more than a few years I would not need their services as much as I did the first time, but I would still seriously think about employing a wedding planner. The reasons are multiple, but here are the main reasons:
Ideas: An experienced wedding planner offers you the one thing no bride (except a serial bride) has -experience. Even an unimaginative one has been involved with enough weddings and seen enough to have ideas that you have probably never thought of. Besides, most wedding planners get into the wedding planning business because they love weddings. They love to dream of new and imaginative ways to stage a wedding. This reason alone could help you break the cookie cutter wedding mold and avoid the common mistakes that turn an otherwise elegant affair into a tacky event.
Knowledge of Resources: A good coordinator has the experience to know what constitutes a good price and is poor price on each particular discipline that are commonly used for weddings. Likewise they know where to find everything from wedding cakes to the favors that you need for your wedding saving you a ton of time running all around… even if you choose a wedding planner that lets you do the leg work (but why would you? Your engagement period should be a time of building your relationship, not pulling your hair out!).
Scheduling Expertise: A good consultant knows how much time the decorators, florist, and pastry chef are likely to need to get your wedding venues ready for your wedding considering exactly what you want in each area, saving you the hassle of booking the venue only to discover later that you paid for too much or too little time to accomplish your wedding goals. Likewise, they have the experience to know how other factors impact the scheduling of your wedding. For more information visit wedding management
Contract Expertise: They are familiar with wedding contracts. An experienced wedding planner knows what is standard in the wedding industry and what is not. This can save you a lot of money.
Professional Distance: Your wedding design consultant is not emotionally involved in your wedding. Therefore when they meet with your vendors they will less likely to succumb to the temptation to buy things that you do not need to achieve your wedding dream.
Stress Relief: A wedding planner can save you a huge amount of stress. Not only will they do the leg work to contract all your vendors, but a good one will supervise everything on your wedding day so all you have to focus on is getting yourself ready for your wedding, your new husband, and generally enjoying the day with all of your loved ones around you.
Of course, just like anything else, the trick is to interview perspective wedding planners just like you would any other wedding professional. Look for experience, professional credentials, creativity, indications that their style matches your own, and above all a willingness to listen and help you discover the details of what you want for your big day.
As a result of a little bit of work on your part hiring a wedding planning professional you should be rewarded with a much less stressful engagement as someone else takes care of making sure that everything is just right. But even better, with your wedding planner’s expertise and practiced negotiating skills, the money you pay a wedding planner is often recouped to a large part over what you would have paid for your wedding on your own. Refer to wedding photography for more information.
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