#2 Make a Pizza Together!

Cooking with your child can be way more than just fun for him. It can be a language-rich experience that helps build vocabulary. The use of all the senses in the kitchen makes new words easier to remember.

Imagine a child who is first exposed to an olive by hearing one described or seeing a picture of one in a book. Now imagine a child first learning what an olive is in the kitchen. The second child is more likely to use the word "olive" the next time he sees one...the child who remembers touching, smelling, and tasting one after watching you twist off the lid and hearing the pop of the jar's seal.

Make a pizza together. Tell him what preheating the oven means. Let him see the dry pizza dough mix and ask him what he thinks it will look and feel like after you add the water and stir. After you let the dough rest, shake flour on the countertop and teach him what kneading is...yes, by letting him do it himself. When it's time to put on the toppings, let him see and smell the colorful options, and of course let him help decorate your pizza. Tell him the name of each vegetable and meat. Mushroom. Pepperoni. Green pepper. Cheese. Sausage. Olives. Tell him what the sauce is made of and let him smell it. Last night my little boy (5 years old) told me "It smells like tomatoes." I can't believe I never told him that pizza sauce is made of tomatoes!

What a rewarding experience! Let the conversation flow. And enjoy the final product together. But be prepared, when kids help in the kitchen, they tend to eat a bit more. For some of you with picky eaters, that alone might get you to try this little experiment.

#1 Say what TO do.

Have you ever felt confused because you didn't understand someone's directions? You just want to know what you're supposed to do.

Adults tend to tell kids what NOT to do, rather than what TO do. So many instructions begin with "Don't..." And they can be very confusing...especially for very young children and children with a language disorder.

"Don't" is such a passive word. I hesitate to even call "Don't" statements directions because you're not directing a child to DO anything when you start with "don't." You're instructing them what NOT to do. You should find that when you are more direct and state what you want the child TO do, you'll have a quicker and more desirable response.

Picture this. A mother walks into the room, deep in phone conversation. This is when her kids are often found testing her patience, so she's not surprised to find her 4 year old son jumping on the couch. She says "Just a minute" to the person on the other end of the phone and in a stern voice "Don't jump on the couch" to her son. She expects him to stop, and he does for a moment, but he continues as soon as she returns to her phone conversation. She again postpones the conversation and in a lounder voice with exaggerated inflection says "I said 'Don't jump on the couch!"

Was this "Don't" instruction effective? Clearly, it wasn't.

Why? There are many possible answers. But without jumping to the conclusion that he's just a bad kid who doesn't listen, consider that that a clear directive wasn't given. An alternate action wasn't suggested. What did the mother want him TO do? Sit still next to her until she was done with her conversation? Play quietly in his bedroom? Watch cartoons? Color a picture at the table or count the pennies in a jar? Any of these would have been clear directions of what he COULD DO. And a child with good language skills might even have asked "What CAN I do?"

A few more examples:

Don't Say: Don't take his toy.
Say: Let HIM play with the toy. He had it first.

Don't Say: Don't touch the baby.
Say: Put your hands in your lap.

Don't Say: Don't play with your food.
Say: Eat.

Don't Say: Don't throw your books on the floor.
Say: Put your books down nicely.

Don't Say: Don't pick your nose.
Say: Use a tissue.

Don't Say: Don't throw your towel on floor.
Say: Hang your towel up every time.

Don't Say: Don't bug me when I'm cooking.
Say: When I'm in the kitchen, play quietly in your bedroom.

Don't Say: Don't touch the dirt without gloves.
Say: Put gloves on first. (Refer to photo above)

A New Slant in Blog World

I haven't looked at my blog in over a month. Have I been too busy? Yeah, but that never kept me away before.

At Christmas I asked my brother if he had ever checked out my blog. His answer was something like "I just don't get it, what's it about?" Granted I'm still new to blogging and it's been a personal blog. I'm not selling anything. I'm not trying to sway your political views. I'm not pushing you to go green, cook organically, or try a new ethnic food everyday. My blog has been about the simple things going on in my life that get me thinking. Alot of my blogs have been about the adventures of my little boy and the interesting things that come out of his mouth.

I've enjoyed sharing these little stories semi-anonomously over the web. So what's the hold up? Why has my blog sat idle for so long?

Answer: I've been thinking. Thinking of a slant. A theme. A reason for the average Joe or Harriet to be interested. Maybe Harriet would stumble upon my blog by searching blogs for "double cowlick." She'd check out my pictures of DT, and move on to the next hit, without looking at any of my other posts. It's obvious the theme of my posts are random. Neither Harriet nor Joe would be interested in my other pointless bloggings.

So, what's my plan?

I've mentioned before that I'm a Speech-Langauge Pathologist, right? I love what I do, and I enjoy being able to share my expertise in childhood speech and language development. What if I continue sharing my little boy's adventures and whatnot, but also offer ideas for speech and language development based on these stories?

That's the plan. As simple as it sounds...ideas for growing your child's speech and language skills. Come back soon.