Raising Baby: Be a Tour Guide

If you're new at the Parent Game, you may think that your infant won't start learning until pre-school classes. WRONG! Baby starts learning about the Big World out there from the first days of life.

Although Baby won't start using (or trying to use) words until a several months after birth, Baby hears you talking and notices the "labels" you give to things. When you take Baby for a walk in the baby carriage, the stroller or for a ride in the car, the bus, etc. you can use the time for a valuable vocabulary lesson.

Simple sentences such as "Look at the big red truck!" or (if you're in a farm area) "Look at the black and white cows" are part of your tour guide script. Even if you're driving and baby is safely strapped into the car seat in the back seat of the car, you can create a running commentary of the scenery outside the car.

This is also a time when you speak plain English, not the traditional baby talk that adults find so attractive. Baby copies the way we adults speak, so our "goo-goos" and "iddy biddy baby" is something Baby figures is how real people talk. Call it a "train", not a "twain". Call it "ice cream", not "ice kweem".

As part of your tour script, point out clouds, birds flying high above or twinkling stars in the night sky. If a policeman is directing traffic, or a fire engine passes you on the way to a call, you can point Baby's attention to these members of the community. Will Baby memorize all these terms, day after day? Probably not, but the little one is getting accustomed to your description of the Big World and in time, the words will become part of Baby's speech.

You can also teach colors as Baby moves into the six month-one year range. Point out things that are red or blue or green. And when Baby is becoming Toddler, you can make a game of "Do you see something green outside the window?"

As a parent, you are Baby's first teacher. You don't need a book, although reading to Baby is another important activity. You just need to share your knowledge of the Big World, moment by moment. You have seen it for so long, it's not a big deal. But it's all new to Baby and you are the tour guide.