How to introduce concept of hot

[thetnpreacherswife]

I have an 11mo DS and I am getting a little worried about how to communicate some things are unsafe...
I know lots of people use "hot" as a universal term for "unsafe" and I am ok with this I'm just confused about how to connect meanings for him...
We've struggle with "No" too
Any help is appreciated.

[tropicaldutchtulip]

I don't use "hot" for everything, I use the proper term for each danger item. I use sign language and that helps/helped a lot. I would let them touch something "warm" and say hot then touch something cold and say cold. That way they started learning the difference in a safer manor. And using the signs for hot and danger. I also tell them each item in the house that is or can get hot so they start learning the stove is hot and such. We don't use the word no in our home, we tell them exactly what we mean.

HTH's....

[birdie22]

Yeah, I just take advantage of natural opportunities... just today I was warming up his bath water by running water that was not hot-hot, but hot enough to surprise him. He reached for it of course, and I was saying "hot... hot... hot..." the whole time.

I don't use "hot" for generic danger. I tend to say "stop!" for emergencies and for less urgent things, "come away." We've been practicing that too... I say "come away" as I pull him away from electrical outlets, breakable items or rickety tables-- over and over and over again.

Don't ask me how I came up with "come away." It worked with ds1, so it became ingrained.

[Lilasmom]

I was interested to read this, because the first word for both my children was "hot" and that's because they were such early risers that I would almost always have a cup of coffee in one hand while reading with them in the early mornings. When they would touch my mug, we would say "hot."

We use the appropriate words, like "sharp" around a knife, etc. And explained that it can hurt you -- we used "hurt" when they hurt themselves.

In terms of "no" we shied away from it, mainly because I've seen it backfire so much -- hearing the kids saying it non-stop. We try to say things like "people are not for hitting" (instead of "no hitting") or "forks stay on your plate or in your mouth" (rather than "no banging"). It takes a long time and lots of repetition. Try to be patient!

[jeliphish]

We used "hot" for just hot, and "dangerous" for everything else. To demonstrate hot, I brought her in the kitchen one night while dinner was baking and touched my had to the outside of the stove. It was pretty warm but nothing that could hurt me or her. After I touched it and said "hot" she naturally wanted to touch it too and when she did I said "too hot...dangerous". It worked well for us and she naturally picked up on the "dangerous meaning too".

[Ruthie's momma]

We have emphasized what is hot, sharp or otherwise dangerous by telling DD that she will get hurt. DD has had a pretty clear understanding of the word, "ouch" for quite some time. So, we have generalized this concept to a number of unsafe situations. Plus, she has also learned the specific reasons for why certain things are unsafe (be they hot, sharp, etc.).

If she would reach for my cup of coffee, I would hold her hand back and say, "Ouch! Ruthie will get hurt!" If she darts away while we are outside walking, "Ouch! You can get hurt!" At almost 22 mo, DD will tell us what is unsafe.... She will point to the range and say, "Hot!" and so on.

This method has virtually eliminated the need to constantly tell DD, "No!" In fact, we hardly ever tell her no. There is rarely a need.

[OkiMom]

I use the actual word to describe it as well (boiling water is hot, knives are sharp etc). I use STOP as a danger word. If I tell her that she knows to stop.