3. Waiting!

Waiting can feel like punishment, even torture. 

 

I'm a pretty firm believer that our thoughts and our feelings are closely intertwined. In fact, I think that our thoughts create our feelings. Sometimes you may not even be aware of what you're thinking but you sure know how you're feeling. And if you're anything like me, these kinds of situations I mentioned make me feel very impatient. Some of the reasons are that I think “this is going to last forever” or “this thing is never going to end”. This kind of thinking is exactly why waiting feels so hard. We just want to get to the next thing. When you start to think about waiting a little bit differently, it changes how you feel about waiting instead of feeling impatience, you can feel confident, empowered, and successful.

 

Waiting is one of the key components that really affects the quality of the interactions that you have with your child. And this interaction will impact whether they are going to learn new words.

 

Children learn to communicate through conversation. They learn through practice. The more they practice something, the better they get at it. Conversation is one of the ways communication naturally develops. 

 

If your child does not understand that is their turn to talk, they will not practice those words. It has to be really clear that they need to respond in some communicative manner, and that’s where waiting comes in. When you incorporate waiting into a conversation with your child, it allows them to take the turns they need to take, in order to learn.

 

Here are four ways to practice waiting to improve communication with your child today:

You want to get their eye contact or have their attention


Make it obvious you are waiting, lean in, raise your eyebrows, point at something


Count to 5


Acknowledge their turn

Listen to the full podcast for 3 activity ideas to practice waiting today.