Baby And Toddler Communication Stages
By Sharlonda Buckman, CEO, Detroit Parent Network
Crying is usually the first way babies utilize sound to communicate. Research shows, by the time an infant is four weeks old each sound has its own meaning.
There is one particular cry which indicates hunger, another that indicates pain, it's time for a diaper change or if the baby simply wants to be held (Baby & Toddlers: Ages 0-2).
Babies consistently prove that they are much smarter than what many realize. During the end of the first quarter of a baby's first year they began to realize that people respond to their sounds; then comes the coo and gurgle sounds, followed by other funny noises.
Between 18 and 24 months, toddlers began learning to express themselves. Of course, there conversation is not grammatically correct at this point in their lives, but they are beginning to use phrases to indicate what their needs are. During this point in their lives what comes out of their mouths is just as important as their action.
Toddlers tend to use short sentences and words such as "No" and "Mine" to take control of their new world (Baby & Toddlers: Ages 0-2). Often, toddlers are saying "No" to their parents because they are saying "Yes" to themselves, which is a form of learning to be assertive and gaining independence, two important characteristics that will take you far in life.
Parents, it is vital that you give your children the opportunity to develop their own personality and become their own person. Pay close attention to everything they say, their actions and reactions in order to gauge if their personality is moving in a negative or positive direction. As parents, our goal is to ensure our children are moving in a positive direction, but that is not always the case.
Whether it is through television or in real life, sometimes we unintentionally expose our toddlers to things that negatively impact them. In the early years of children lives you have the ability to easily change their behavior, and produce positive personalities; it only becomes an issue when parents wait until their toddlers become teenagers to start correcting their behavior.
