How do you "teach" your little ones?

[Casey44]

DD is almost 10 months and I'm starting to feel like a slacker in the "teaching" department. She still can't respond to anything we say like, "wave bye bye," "give me a kiss." etc. I know that every child develops at their own pace and I am ok if she does these things later than most children. I just want to make sure I'M doing what I need to do to help her learn the things she's supposed to learn.

I guess my first question is... I don't ever feel like I know what I'm even supposed to be trying to teach her? It's usually such simple things that they don't even cross my mind to try and help her learn them? Does anyone have a good resource for this?

And my second question is- how do you teach your little ones? I will model waving bye bye for her and say "wave bye bye" and then wave her hand for her. Is that all there is to it? I just want to make sure I'm doing what I can to help her learn!

[sapphire_chan]

Modeling.
And responding to your LO's attempts.
And more modeling.

Make sure you're looking happy about whatever you want her to try and not worried about her doing or not doing it.

When dd was really little, we'd play games where I'd lay down with my knees bent so she could sit on my stomach and lean back on my knees and we'd play games together. Things like "how big is baby?" "Soooo big" and lift her hands up (she'd hold onto my thumbs). (Funnily, she never actually did that one herself, I'd say "how big is baby?" and she'd take hold of my thumbs and raise her hands.)

DD learned waving from other people waving at us.

[Kuba'sMama]

There was a thread about something like this a little while ago in the toddler section. Something like why does my child not respond to "so tall" or know the ABC song or something.
I never bothered with all that.

Some people I see at playgroups and such seem to think that their baby or toddler is a trained puppy which does tricks. "wave bye-bye", "blow a kiss", "pat tummy"... why??

I talk to my babies the way I talk to any other human being. Obviously the topics are different, lol. But I basically talk to her as I do my daily chores "mommy is picking up your brother's toys, what a messy boy to leave his things all around our living room, isn't he?" lots of smiles, eye contact.

As we're going out and about, I usually have her in the sling and just talk to her "oh look at the pretty leaves, do you see the bird? here comes a garbage truck".

The more you talk about mundane, everyday things, the more they understand. That's how I approach "teaching" anyway

[Noah's mommy]

I agree with what everyone else has already said-lots of conversation (even one sided) and modeling.

I do enjoy doing little finger songs with my babies, singing, and playing but I do it for my enjoyment and hers, not to teach explicitly.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by Kuba'sMama

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Some people I see at playgroups and such seem to think that their baby or toddler is a trained puppy which does tricks. "wave bye-bye", "blow a kiss", "pat tummy"... why??

I totally agree.

I think teaching and learning just naturally happen through the everyday interactions and activities we intuitively do with our babies. Human beings are "programmed" to develop through the lives we lead with them and I don't believe we need to make any extra effort to help them or push them in any direction...unless there is some specific developmental issue going on. But what you describe sounds like a normal baby, and I really wouldn't even worry about this in your case.

[Dot-to-Dot]

The little games are good for helping babies to communicate (I say something, you respond). It teaches them about the back and forth of conversation and it's also LOTS of fun for them! It's also helpful for them to learn how to mimic. As well as learn to identify (body parts, familiar objects) and categorize (their whole world right now is learning to put everything into a category...i.e. I have to be gentle with this, but I can throw this. That was a car, but that is a truck.)

Much of this can be accomplished through modeling, conversation, reading books together and generally calmly observing the world together. You'll point things out over and over and eventually, she'll begin to label something and place a question mark behind it, like, "Car?" And you'll confirm, "Yes, car." Then she'll be in the stage of confirming her world...constantly.

They learn so much just living daily life so long as they have opportunities to go places, see people, watch stuff happening. It just all comes in time, when they are ready. I agree about making sure to smile and not look worried when teaching something. It does seem comparable to dog tricks but, bottom line, these "tricks" are perfectly appropriate learning tools for communication, categorization, identification and socialization. There's no rush for them to learn their colors at age 10 months. But, there's no harm in going over the colors regularly in order to familiarize the baby with a very useful piece of knowledge that will eventually click! Besides, they LOVE to look at colors/number books. It's a great step to know how to point out your belly or wave bye-bye. Not necessary, but there's definitely several reasons "why" these skills lead to broader skill sets and are useful.

I would go to the library each week and choose new little board books to bring home. Usually, there will be a ton that have little rhymes and songs in them and you can work on them with your little one each day. (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Patty Cake, etc.) Also, if you can find one of those free library classes where they read a story and do little songs, you'll get lots of fun ideas for little songy-game type things. You don't have to knock yourself trying to teach your baby to blow a kiss. You're probably doing a lot of teaching without even realizing it. Do you talk to your baby? Do you do things to make her giggle? Do you complete household tasks while she's watching? Do you express emotions like sadness, happiness and surprise? All of these things help a baby to understand how the world works. If you're so inclined to play extra little games, your baby will probably enjoy the special time with you. If you don't feel so inclined, she'll learn and grow anyhow!

[Casey44]

Thank you for all the great information! I am not trying to push my daughter in any direction or teach her "tricks" to show off for anyone else, I am just making sure I am helping her develop and reach her potential. My husband is like genius level smart, so if she is anywhere near as smart as he is I probably won't be able to keep up! But I just want to make sure I'm stimulating her in all the necessary ways and just having fun with it. I think I just need some guidance because I honestly tend to get kind of bored just sitting on the floor with her day after day, but I feel like if I knew what I was doing was actually helping her learn/communicate etc.then it would be more motivating for me and make me feel like I was serving more of a purpose.

Thank you again for all the help!