Is Sign Language Good For Babies?
It is a moment in my parenting journey that I will never forget.
I was playing with my daughter in bed. We were roughhousing a bit and I was throwing her into the air. She laughed with glee and I laughed right along with her.
Then I set her down.
“More?” I asked as I tapped my fingers together twice.
“All done,” she signed. With sickening dread, I realized that she wasn’t laughing with glee. My poor child was terrified.
If I hadn’t taught her sign language, I wouldn’t have known until she started to cry.
While there are a ton of benefits to teaching your infant to sign, this one moment in time left me forever grateful that I had done so with my own.
What is baby sign language?
Baby sign language is made up of simple hand gestures loosely based on American Sign Language. The gestures do not need to be exactly the same, however. Rather, the idea behind baby sign language and the reason you would use hand gestures with your baby is to allow them to express needs and wants before they are verbal. As long as all caregivers are consistent with the signals you use, it doesn’t matter what they are.