Sign Language and Babies
With our first child, we learned basic baby sign language early on to start communicating on a level other than orally. It doesn’t help that my wife and I speak multiple languages too.
We went to the library and got resources for baby sign language and practiced them day and night. We tried teaching sign language to our child and… nothing.
Huh??
We did it just like the materials said. Nothing was happening.
This disappointed us but kept the sign language going.
It was one day, he started signing:
🤯
Yes - the child started doing it repeatedly after months of seeing us do it. They misinterpreted the sign for something else entirely, but they caught on later.
When we had our second child, we executed the same playbook as the first. This time, it was more natural and one thing I realized:
The first time we taught our first child sign language, it was too early!
It was not until about one year old that our children could do the gestures for sign language back at us.
So, if you are learning sign language to teach your child sign language, do not despair if they do not get it right away, everything is new to them and they will.
One great thing about learning sign language ourselves is that my wife and I can communicate using it when we don’t want to wake the kids. ;-)