To help your baby develop a good attitude about him or herself, and to discover that life is exciting and wonderful, two things are most important: talking and touching. All children are born with the capacity to understand words and to learn to talk. Children start to communicate their needs from the moment they are born. When your baby hears your voice, he will stop what he is doing and listen. At about four months old, your baby will respond with noises when someone is talking to him. The first sounds your baby makes sound like es and ehs and as. These are called discomfort sounds of crying. A cry will sound like e, eh, and a. Your baby also communicates with gestures, facial expressions, and body movements.

Very soon after birth, a baby will also learn the sounds of ah, oh, and oo. These are called comfort sounds and you can usually hear them when your baby is content. Paying attention to these different sounds helps to establish a way your baby can talk to you. Every baby understands that when he makes these sounds, his mother or father will respond by doing something. At about six months of age, these sounds will show up in combination. This is the point when your baby will start to babble.

When your child starts baby talk, your response should be smiles and praises. Imitate that sound back to your child. When you imitate these sounds, hell probably say them right back to you. Hug your child and tell him how pleased you are that he is talking. How much and in what way our child will talk depends, to a great extent, on you. A child hears his first words from his parents and for the first few years most of the speech they continue to hear is from you. If a lot of talking goes on in the home, particularly directed to them, they will assume speech is important. They will work harder at speaking and will talk sooner and more.

Language develops by speaking with your child as much as possible. Whenever youre feeding, changing, bathing, and walking your child, talk to him. When you talk to your children, they are learning to put words to certain actions and objects. This helps your child express his needs in words. In order for you to share more complicated thoughts and ideas, your child must begin to develop language, speech at first and then writing. Just a few simple sounds during the first year of life will lead to the use of thousands of words by the time your child is a teenager.

Another wonderful way to stimulate language development is by reading to your child daily. You can read during the day or before bedtime. Hearing your voice communicates love and security to your child. Many parents tell me that their child lets them know they want to be read to when they being a book out of their book basket or shelf and hand it to their parents to read to them.

Childrens feelings are a good way to stimulate and nurture your child. Use words to describe how you think your child is feeling: Jane looks very unhappy right now, or Tim is feeling happy. Putting words to feelings will help your child express how they feel. This is a lifelong skill that will benefit your childs self-esteem and thoughts of himself. With the ability to use words, phrases and sentences, your child gains mastery of his environment by expressing his needs and understanding the needs of others.

Your child is a natural born explorer. There are many ways to help your child develop a sense of touch and stimulation, which helps in his overall development. Every child likes to touch, taste, grab, twist, bite, and pull on anything within their reach. Giving your child safe things to play with and touch helps their eye-hand coordination and sense of exploration. Here are some ways to help stimulate your childs development:

Give your child things of different colors and sizes.
Dance and sing with your child in your arms.
Stimulate your childs body by a daily full body massage.
Children love when you play with their hands and feet and tickle them gently.
Stimulate your child with gentle rocking and singing songs.
Give your child safe things to touch: objects that are soft, fuzzy, sticky, hard, squishy, etc.
Show your child his and your face in a large mirror.

Stimulating, nurturing and communicating with your child from the day of his birth creates a conscious effort on your part to encourage your child to find life exciting and wonderful. Your childs physical, intellectual, language and social and emotional development depends upon your interactions with your child. You are the person your child most imitates throughout his lifetime. So give your child the best start in life by providing a loving, stimulating and caring environment that sends the message, I love you and want the best for you.

Copyright 2006 by Linda Milo and Empowering Parents Now. All rights reserved.