當馬克遇上莎莉

資料來源 Baby Centre, 文章內字體顏色不同者,按下會直接連結至說明網頁 

Written by childcare expert and author Penelope Leach

Babies have an inbuilt interest in human voices and a natural tendency to listen and to concentrate when someone is talking. You can build on this as you did when your child was a baby. 

How can I help my toddler learn to talk?

Talk as much and as often as you can directly to your toddler. Try to make some of these conversations just between you and him. If you are talking, or reading, to him and an older sibling, your toddler will not get as much repetition and explanation as he can use, and as much as he will get if he is alone with you. Look at him while you talk. Let him see your face and your gestures.

Let your toddler see what you mean, by matching what you do to what you say. "Off with your shirt," you say, taking it off over his head; "Now your shoes", removing them.

Let your toddler see what you feel by matching what you say with your facial expressions. This is no age for teasing (what age is?). If you give him a big hug while saying "Who's mummy's great horrible grubby monster then?" you will confuse him. Your face is saying "Who is mummy's gorgeous boy?"

Help your child to understand your overall communication; it does not matter whether he understands your exact words or not. If you cook something, put plates on the table and then hold out your hand to him saying, "It's lunch time now". He will understand that his lunch is ready and will come to his high chair. He might not have understood the words "lunch time now" without those other cues to go with them. He will learn the meanings of the words themselves through understanding them, again and again, in helpful contexts.

Share enthusiasm, emotion and emphasis; whether you are talking about a flood of love for your toddler or a flock of rare birds in the sky, those are the speech qualities that will catch and hold his attention and motivate him to try and understand what you are saying. 

How can I help my toddler to communicate?

Help your child to realise that all talk is communication. If you chat away to yourself without waiting for a response or looking as if you want one, or if you don't bother to answer when he or another member of the family speaks to you, he is bound to feel that words are just meaningless sounds.

Don't have talk as background noise. If you like to have the radio on all day, try to keep it to music unless you are actually listening. If you are listening, let him see that you are receiving meaningful communication from the voice he cannot see.

Act as your toddler's interpreter. You will find it much easier to understand his language than strangers do and he will find it much easier to understand you and other "special" people than to understand strangers. 

How can I teach my toddler about truth and lies? 

Your child may learn new words and use them correctly, but he may miss the subtler meanings those words convey to adults. He cannot possibly understand the concept of a promise, for example. Yet he may well use the word. If you offer him five minutes more play if he promises to come straight to bed afterwards, he will happily say "promise". However, the word is nothing but an agreement label. After those five minutes, he wants a further five. He cannot understand the reproach in your voice as you say, "but you promised."

Words often make trouble over truth, too. Your toddler may talk fluently enough to issue accusations and denials long before their accuracy means anything to him. He talks as he feels. It might have been the dog that made that puddle: he wishes it had been and says that it was. During a quarrel with his sister, he falls and hurts his knee. He says that she pushed him -- which she did not. But although she did not hurt his knee, she did hurt his feelings. He is telling a kind of feeling-truth which just happens to be different from adult truth.

As he grows, you will be able to demonstrate the value of promises thoughtfully made and reliably kept; of truth (usually) told, and lies (mostly) avoided. But it is too soon yet. Don't corner him with concepts he cannot understand. He is doing his best to please, but if nothing less than child standards can please you, he will fail.