The moment you conceive a child in your womb, parenting starts with all the joys and responsibilities that comes with it. Parenting is a wonderful experience and should be an enjoyable one between you and your child.

As parent, your goal is to help your baby develop appropriate behaviour as early on letting them grow into happy and responsible individual. Success in parenting is a journey. How do you ensure success in parenting? You can do this through positive parenting.

Developing a baby’s sense of security and proper attitude is something that they need to help them grow up happy and responsible throughout life. It is your responsibility as parent to help them achieve that but you might be wondering how to accomplish this. A big part of parenting is communicating with your children and there may be times that you find this challenging. To ensure that you’re on the right track to positive parenting, it is important that you have a good grasp of the positive techniques in rearing and educating children. Here’s to give you some examples of great parenting techniques and how you can use these to fit your family’s communication needs.

Positive Attention:

Babies have basic but crucial needs that manifest themselves during the first few months of their lives. Responding to these needs will help your baby learn to feel security and trust. It will help them learn, love, and grow more. Here are some examples of those needs:

• Attention. Babies need attention and the best person on earth who could give it to them is none other than you as parent. Giving your baby proper attention develops parent-child relationship. When babies feel fussy or worried about something, parents usually pick them up to try and calm them down. Doing this helps babies understand that parents are people they can count on to take care of their needs.
• Love. There is nothing wrong with holding a baby frequently, despite some people saying that this would spoil them. The first half of the baby’s life is a time of unused energy, hunger, and other things to fuss about. Parents have the role of heeding those needs by soothing, holding, feeding and cuddling their babies. The important message to get across is that you love him and that you are there for him. This creates a bond between the baby and family members and takes care of your baby’s emotional needs. It also teaches your baby that it is good to show warm behaviour too.
• Playfulness. You may be busy throughout the day but it is important to take time to share fun, enjoyable moments with your baby. Physical interaction can help him to learn to socialise and spend time with other people.
• Patience and Consistency. Crying is a baby’s default way of communicating and asking you to meet his needs. The cries may differ depending on the need that your baby feels at that moment. He may whimper to tell you that he feels discomfort. A loud cry may be his way of saying that he is hungry and needs to be fed right away. When your baby starts signing, he will begin to use signs that represent these feelings. Be patient in determining what these cries mean and pay attention to the signs he makes so your baby will learn to expect your response.

Babies start to get smarter and want to move around a lot more once they reach around 6 months of age. They are inherently curious and want to touch everything they see. This can sometimes spell trouble. You want to think of ways to get him to move away from dangerous things like electric outlets and sharp objects. As your baby starts to move around, you may find yourself wishing that he would stop and just stay in one place. Although it is good for your baby to start building their own ideas and explore as much as he can, he should also learn what it is that you want him to do. Encourage proper behaviour by providing him with the things he needs such as positive attention. Babies need this and if they get it enough then they would be less inclined to try annoying behaviours in order to get it. Use signs that are positive and affirming whenever your baby does something that you like. You may find that with some children it works to just ignore some irritating behaviours but there are those who would need to channel that into another activity. Think of his reason for wanting your attention. He may want to have some fun together with you or may just need you to spend quiet time with him.

The kinds of positive attention you give will vary as your baby grows older. Infants need eye contact, cuddling, and smiles to know that their parents are giving them attention. You can also sing, read simple stories, and practice your signs together. These activities show your baby that you care while at the same time practicing their language skills. Positive attention does not stop at smiling whenever your baby does something good. Your baby may have not so good feelings such as frustration and discomfort and giving names to these feelings will help your baby express them positively.

Using music with signing and reading to your baby is also a great way of attracting his attention. Repetitive rhythmic patterns will help your baby recognise a song and he will start to expect you to sing it more. When your baby gets tired of this you can try to introduce new melodies. You can also introduce rhythm and emphasis when using baby sign. You can make slower and larger movements to emphasize what you are saying or include loving facial expressions while signing an affectionate word.

Making Choices:

Children, no matter how young they are, want to have some control over the happenings in their surroundings. During their first year, babies will express what they want in very obvious ways. They will point to and reach out towards an object to tell you that they want it. They will lift their hands when they want you to pick them up. They do this because they realize that these actions can make adults do what they want. It is necessary though that, as parents, you decide how much power your baby can have over himself or any member of the family. They can begin to take part in decision-making.

Your family’s chosen method of communication is important because these teach your children to make independent choices. Decisions can be expressed even in non-vocal terms. You may bring in a toy when your baby is crying and hold it near his hand. If he reaches out for it or smiles then he is essentially choosing to play with it. When you hold out two toys and he reaches out for one instead of the other then your baby has made a choice. You can confirm this choice by signing about it. Teaching your baby to make choices helps him to be independent and confident. It lets him know that you respect his growing capability – having a small “say” in his life – and teaches him to respect others too.

Think of the choices that you frequently offer your baby. Make sure to learn about those choices by putting them on your list of signs to learn. This list will grow as your baby gets older and begins to pay attention to more things. You can teach your baby the steps for making choices by asking him questions and confirming his choice. Of course, the choices that your baby has are real-life choices. Choosing between juice and water is a choice of what to drink. Deciding whether to play cars with daddy or read a book with mommy is a decision of what to do for fun.

Effective Praise:

Babies learn which behaviours get our attention and whether that attention is good or bad. When he smiles, plays, or starts a conversation with you, you would naturally respond enthusiastically. This is the start of praise. You can encourage good behaviours such as eating properly, sleeping on time, and behaving by praising them. Of course, your baby has to know what you are praising for it to be effective. He needs to see your sign, hear your voice, and look at your signs.

Descriptive praise happens when you tell your baby about a behaviour that you liked. You call attention to the specific behaviour so that your baby would know what is that you liked. Be genuine and don’t exaggerate. Describing may feel like a lot for your baby to learn so you could consider keeping a list of signs that represent words you want to emphasise. Match your facial expression with what you are signing. Put on an excited face if you are happy about something your baby is doing.

Transitions:

Signing transitions can help a baby expect what is going to happen next and will decrease the likelihood that he will throw a tantrum because he got interrupted. The transition from playtime to lunchtime can be done by holding up a spoon and signing, “Time for lunch.” You can also sign transitions for places. Use signs for words that your baby can associate to locations such as the supermarket, the church, etc.

Routines:

Routines allow your baby to expect what is going to happen next and prevent too many surprises. It teaches him to cooperate because he becomes used to a way of doing things. For example, your baby would come to expect that bath time comes after playtime and will be more willing to go along with it. Follow the basic steps to using baby sign and enjoy the benefits that it brings.

Dealing with tantrums:

Babies resort to tantrums when they are hungry, uncomfortable, or frustrated and they do not know how to express it. Communicating effectively with your baby will lessen these instances. You will be able to manage his behaviour better if you have strong communication. Your baby will discover that the positive attention that comes with doing the right things is better than throwing tantrums. Make sure that he understands that there are better ways to attract your attention than this.

Babies are interested to know everything about their surroundings. If you look closely, you may notice that your baby uses his senses, body parts, and certain movements to learn more about the world around him. He could discover a certain object or activity that he likes and he’ll go ahead and try to discover more. He learns that he can fit little rattles in his mouth, but big round balls are more fun to bounce. He sees that adults are fun to play with because they try to make him laugh. These small experiences let your baby figure out things about his surroundings. He may get curious and wonder what certain things are called and how they work and what to call the sounds he hears.

Babies learn about objects around them by looking, feeling, and exploring everything during their first year. They remember things that they are interested in, or things that they like. When this memory kicks in, words become very important. It seems that the questions babies commonly ask are the name of the things around them. And they learn these really fast. You can help your baby learn by looking at what he is pointing at and using the name and the sign for it.

Name objects:

When you see your baby looking at an object, you can go near the object and make the sign on it. Make sure that he can see you at eye level so that he can see the correct way of signing the word and at the same time say the word clearly. Your baby can also watch your facial expression which is important if you are trying to associate a feeling with that particular object. Look at the things your baby is fascinated with and talk about those things. If your baby reaches out for a ball, talk about the ball. Your may work on your facial expression showing excitement so that your baby will associate this object with fun. Remember to follow your baby’s lead and focus on topics or words to match your baby’s interest.

The key to helping your baby remember the signs and names for objects is to keep using the names that he already knows. As mentioned, babies are curious by nature and they want to learn something many times as possible. As they start developing their language skills, they may need to see the sign and hear the name of the word many times before they are able to really know it.

When babies see an object all the time, it does not seem so interesting anymore. But once something different happens to it, it becomes a lot more fascinating. For example, a nappy may be something your baby sees everyday. But a stinky or wet nappy is different than all those in the stack.

You do not have to be confined to objects when teaching words and signs to your baby. Language is a lot more than that. You can choose to name actions, feelings, sounds, etc. Try to do this all day long and in every situation that you can. It’s normal for us to hurry through our daily routines but just keep in mind that you will be missing important learning opportunities if you don’t slow down a little, try following these steps to signing success.

Sounds:

Help your baby learn that some things produce sounds. When your baby hears certain sounds around them, you can also react and talk about what is making this sound. You could sign words to describe the sound such as “loud” or “noisy”. These sounds can even lead your baby to explore new things. When you hear something loud outside, you can bring your baby to the window. You may see your neighbor mowing the lawn and this would be a good situation to teach your child the word and the sign for “grass”.

Also try reading to your baby and explaining what is happening in their favorite book while acting out the signs.  Children love books with colorful images that help to captivate their imagination.

Your baby will also learn to respond to the sound of his own name. Call it out a couple of times while approaching him and he will eventually learn that that is what he is called. You could even practice it during a game of peek-a-boo!

Emotions:

Babies experience varying emotions throughout the day. Your baby may learn to express these feelings by teaching him words and signs while the baby is experiencing them. He may be happy, angry, or frustrated at times and these are feelings that you can label. Describe to him the feeling that he has by using phrases such as “You are happy”, and “You are sad”. You can also tell your baby why he is feeling that way. Try not to miss an opportunity for labeling your baby’s feelings. This shows him that you care and that you are really listening.

Ask questions:

Your baby may not yet have the words to ask the questions that they want to but you can observe their actions and facial expressions to help you figure these out. For example, you may see your baby looking around the room for a toy. You would know that he is trying to ask say “Where?” and a puzzled look may be him asking “What’s this?”

Babies can learn to ask questions by over-hearing your question-and-answer routines with other family member. This is how they learn how questions work and even how to answer them. Try to actively inject questions into your conversations with other people when your baby is watching and don’t forget to sign it out.

You may also ask your baby some questions. This will encourage him to practice the new names and signs that he has learned. However, do give your baby an opportunity to ask a question back because these questions can tell you what your baby wants to talk about.

Babies love to explore:

Babies explore everything: you, themselves, their toys, and really just the world around them. This process may be messy at times, but this is the best way for him to learn. Give your baby as many opportunities to explore as you can because this increases his knowledge and this can give you more things to talk about.

You can also teach your baby about sizes. Instead of putting locks on some cabinets, try to draw his attention to one that you would like him to explore. You can put something fun outside it like a big colorful balloon or a cute stuffed animal. Inside, you can put objects that are of different sizes. Try plastic lids of different shapes and sizes but make sure that they don’t have small parts that can be choked on. This would be a good learning activity for your baby while you spend time doing something else.

Volume is also another thing for your baby to explore. You can put a tub in your bathroom and fill it up with plastic cups, measuring cups, plastic bottles, and other containers for pouring. Teach your baby that things feel lighter when they are empty and that not all containers are equal.

Your baby can also explore the outdoors. On a nice day, spread out a blanket on the grass and put things on it like leaves, flowers, and rocks but make sure that they are too big to swallow. You may also go for a walk and point out interesting things like butterflies, birds, and trees. Teach him how to say and sign those words.

It is not that difficult to decide which words to teach your baby initially. If you observe the things that he finds interesting and that are often in his sight then you would know which ones to choose trying to keep a good mix of practical and motivating signs. You could even make a list to help you remember!