4 ms·

I'm pretty sure that what goes on in my 9-month-old's brain when I read him a story is: "Mmmmmm, that book looks delicious."

jedberg 8y ago
Don't worry, all of us are in that boat. 1/2 the time is spent keeping the book away from him.
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
OT: Teach him sign language and he can tell you he wants to eat the book long before he can vocally do the same! I recommend starting at 6 months.
- jedberg 8y ago
  Heh, maybe. We tried teaching both my kids ASL at 6 months. The first one managed to get four of five signs before she could talk. The second one has zero, but then again, he doesn't really talk yet either.
  - sharkweek 8y ago
    Do second kids typically start talking later? I have two separate friends with two kids each. Both their oldest kids learned to talk pretty early, their second in both cases were much later.
    - zrail 8y ago
      My anecdata agrees. My brother in law's first two kids were born 11 months apart so their developmental stages were pretty synced up, but their third definitely took a lot longer to start talking. His older brothers just spoke for him and understood what he wanted without him having to speak, so he didn't.
      - Apofis 8y ago
        Interesting that kids could still understand baby gesturing/talk.
    - neves 8y ago
      Mine was the opposite. I was impressed how early my second son started to make complete sentences.
    - jarrettch 8y ago
      My daughter learned to talk a lot earlier than her older sister who is a year older, also learned to walk earlier too. Anecdotal, obviously, but part of me thinks she was trying to "keep up."
- empath75 8y ago
  It's also useful even after they learn to talk, because you're still gonna have a hard time understanding them until they're well into their second year. Signs my kid has learned and used, without a lot of prompting from us: "All done" "Please" (also means 'yes' -- "Do you want jelly?" "please") "help" "water" "milk" "food"
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    Absolutely, my primary motivation initially was to enable our first to tell us when he needed the potty [I'm a kook, we start potty from 5-6 months], though initially for the first it was mostly telling us he wanted milk/food or saw a light/bird. We read a lot, and always do sign and speech together. Eldest is in Secondary School (UK) now; if it retarded his speech/language skills as some claim it might then it didn't matter because he and middle child are highly literate (several years advanced in reading age). Mum, Dad (none of my kids bothered with that sign much), food, drink, milk (both kinds), sleep, tired, hungry, more, finished .. all useful starter words. From 2+ we start faltering with signed vocab so sign (a modified and simplified BSL somewhat of our own) tends to naturally give way to speech -- I mean what's the sign for gazelle, or pneumatic drill, or to say "it tastes bad" rather than just that they "don't like" whatever new food we're trying to get them to try ...
    - stef25 8y ago
      Dad of a 1 year old here. How do you start potty at 6 months? And how do you go about teaching signs?
      - astura 8y ago
        https://www.parentingscience.com/potty-training-age.html https://www.parentingscience.com/potty-training-age.html >Infant potty training: 0-12 months >It sounds bizarre to many Westerners. But for parents in places like India, China, and East Africa (deVries and deVries 1977; Boucke 2002), the traditional potty training age is early infancy. In these societies, parents learn to recognize their babies’ body signals and to use these signals to anticipate when their babies eliminate. >When the infant is ready to go, the parent holds him over a sink, bowl, toilet, or the open ground. As the infant voids, the parent makes a characteristic sound or gesture. The baby learns to associate this parental sign with voiding, and, eventually, the parental sign becomes an invitation to void. When the baby feels the urge to go, he learns to hold back for a brief time until his parent gives him the “all clear."
- stewbrew 8y ago
  We found that entirely useless. It was recommended to us by someone who has no kids. As the parent, you most likely know what they want anyway.
  - deckiedan 8y ago
    Worked great for us - we only used about 10 signs, but things like our son suddenly at the table refusing all food and waving randomly at the table - so we asked (rhetorically) 'fine! What do you want?' And he signed "water". After a swig he happily carried on eating. Also our daughter running up to us (11 months) and signing she wanted her diaper changed. Sure enough... We have other friends with similar aged kids who's kids get incredibly frustrated when they cannot communicate something like that and just scream until the parents five then what they want. Our kids did use it both differently, and different amounts, but it was a minor helpful extra for us.
    - stewbrew 8y ago
      In my experience, kids find a way to make themselves understood. And their parents will find out -- sooner or later. For things they cannot find out, they probably couldn't help them much anyway. I find it rather strange to impose a defined vocabulary on them. If such a toddler language would actually be of any use to solve an actual problem, I think evolution would have already found a (then well known) solution.
seanmcdirmid 8y ago
Even at 17 months it still feels like this.
PyroLagus 8y ago
Is your kid the Globglogabgalab?

jedberg 8y ago

Don't worry, all of us are in that boat. 1/2 the time is spent keeping the book away from him.

pbhjpbhj 8y ago

OT: Teach him sign language and he can tell you he wants to eat the book long before he can vocally do the same! I recommend starting at 6 months.

jedberg 8y ago
Heh, maybe. We tried teaching both my kids ASL at 6 months. The first one managed to get four of five signs before she could talk. The second one has zero, but then again, he doesn't really talk yet either.
- sharkweek 8y ago
  Do second kids typically start talking later? I have two separate friends with two kids each. Both their oldest kids learned to talk pretty early, their second in both cases were much later.
  - zrail 8y ago
    My anecdata agrees. My brother in law's first two kids were born 11 months apart so their developmental stages were pretty synced up, but their third definitely took a lot longer to start talking. His older brothers just spoke for him and understood what he wanted without him having to speak, so he didn't.
    - Apofis 8y ago
      Interesting that kids could still understand baby gesturing/talk.
  - neves 8y ago
    Mine was the opposite. I was impressed how early my second son started to make complete sentences.
  - jarrettch 8y ago
    My daughter learned to talk a lot earlier than her older sister who is a year older, also learned to walk earlier too. Anecdotal, obviously, but part of me thinks she was trying to "keep up."
empath75 8y ago
It's also useful even after they learn to talk, because you're still gonna have a hard time understanding them until they're well into their second year. Signs my kid has learned and used, without a lot of prompting from us: "All done" "Please" (also means 'yes' -- "Do you want jelly?" "please") "help" "water" "milk" "food"
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  Absolutely, my primary motivation initially was to enable our first to tell us when he needed the potty [I'm a kook, we start potty from 5-6 months], though initially for the first it was mostly telling us he wanted milk/food or saw a light/bird. We read a lot, and always do sign and speech together. Eldest is in Secondary School (UK) now; if it retarded his speech/language skills as some claim it might then it didn't matter because he and middle child are highly literate (several years advanced in reading age). Mum, Dad (none of my kids bothered with that sign much), food, drink, milk (both kinds), sleep, tired, hungry, more, finished .. all useful starter words. From 2+ we start faltering with signed vocab so sign (a modified and simplified BSL somewhat of our own) tends to naturally give way to speech -- I mean what's the sign for gazelle, or pneumatic drill, or to say "it tastes bad" rather than just that they "don't like" whatever new food we're trying to get them to try ...
  - stef25 8y ago
    Dad of a 1 year old here. How do you start potty at 6 months? And how do you go about teaching signs?
    - astura 8y ago
      https://www.parentingscience.com/potty-training-age.html https://www.parentingscience.com/potty-training-age.html >Infant potty training: 0-12 months >It sounds bizarre to many Westerners. But for parents in places like India, China, and East Africa (deVries and deVries 1977; Boucke 2002), the traditional potty training age is early infancy. In these societies, parents learn to recognize their babies’ body signals and to use these signals to anticipate when their babies eliminate. >When the infant is ready to go, the parent holds him over a sink, bowl, toilet, or the open ground. As the infant voids, the parent makes a characteristic sound or gesture. The baby learns to associate this parental sign with voiding, and, eventually, the parental sign becomes an invitation to void. When the baby feels the urge to go, he learns to hold back for a brief time until his parent gives him the “all clear."
stewbrew 8y ago
We found that entirely useless. It was recommended to us by someone who has no kids. As the parent, you most likely know what they want anyway.
- deckiedan 8y ago
  Worked great for us - we only used about 10 signs, but things like our son suddenly at the table refusing all food and waving randomly at the table - so we asked (rhetorically) 'fine! What do you want?' And he signed "water". After a swig he happily carried on eating. Also our daughter running up to us (11 months) and signing she wanted her diaper changed. Sure enough... We have other friends with similar aged kids who's kids get incredibly frustrated when they cannot communicate something like that and just scream until the parents five then what they want. Our kids did use it both differently, and different amounts, but it was a minor helpful extra for us.
  - stewbrew 8y ago
    In my experience, kids find a way to make themselves understood. And their parents will find out -- sooner or later. For things they cannot find out, they probably couldn't help them much anyway. I find it rather strange to impose a defined vocabulary on them. If such a toddler language would actually be of any use to solve an actual problem, I think evolution would have already found a (then well known) solution.

seanmcdirmid 8y ago

Even at 17 months it still feels like this.

PyroLagus 8y ago

Is your kid the Globglogabgalab?