Week 3 - Communicating With Young Children

My observation:

I observed a mother and approximately 2 month old baby boy in a McDonald’s restaurant. The baby began to fuss. The mother began to bounce him in her arms and shushing him. When the infant began to shriek louder, the mother began to repeat, “It’s all right. It’s all right. You’re okay…you’re okay” in a sing-song way with a lilt in her voice. The baby closed his eyes and pulled his knees to his chest. The mother kept repeating her mantra in her motherese tone of voice. When the child’s cries increased in severity, the mother stood and held her baby with his head on her shoulder, her hand supporting his head and neck and began to utter the shushing sound again while rotating her weight from side to side, alternating feet. The child shrieked and the mother set him down in his car seat and began to quickly prepare a bottle of formula. As she shook the bottle to mix the formula, the mother squeaked a soft toy to distract the child, who continued to shriek. The mother set the bottle on the table and picked the infant up , cradling him in her left arm and began to feed him. The mother said to the baby as she fed him, “There you are. That’s what you wanted. Oh, you are hungry. Yes, you are”.

What I noticed:

The mother made eye contact with the baby when she spoke. She spoke in a soothing, lilting voice. The mother spoke to her baby as if the cries were complaints uttered using verbiage. The mother did not react harshly to the baby. The mother did not ask the baby any questions, nor did she seem to look for gestures that would answer questions.

How this relates to the reading:

According to Kovach and Da Ros-Voseles (2011), “When you communicate with babies, it validates their self-worth” (p 48). The mother spoke to the baby in an effort to soothe him. Additionally, “most babies use gestures and babble [to communicate]” (p49). “Telling babies what will happen, showing them the steps along the way and touching them  to give them clues about what is happening is a powerful and wonderful way to give the baby a chance to understand your actions and intentions (p50). Instead of squeaking the toy to distract the baby, which did not seem to be effective in this situation, the mother could have asked the baby if he would like to eat while watching for cues that would answer her question, and narrated the process of making the bottle in her soothing voice. She could have shown the baby how she was shaking the bottle to mix it.

Additional thoughts about the interaction:

I think that the mother did a great job of soothing the baby verbally and physically. She was calm and quietly helped the baby; who was screaming in a public setting. She demonstrated a great deal of patience and love in dealing with her son. I think that asking the baby what was bothering him and letting him know what she was going to do next to help him would have helped the baby to feel heard and understood.

How this observation compares and affects my communication with young children [babies]:

I find infants to be amazing. I think that they tell us a great deal through facial expressions, tones of voice and physical gestures. As a rule and a habit, I do converse with infants (the other staff at the center often chuckle at the conversations that I have with babies). I think that I could ask more questions of the infants in my care and pay a great deal more attention to their answers and verbally acknowledge my interpretation of the answers that I receive and look again for confirmation from the infants. Additionally, instead of scooping up an infant into my arms, I will touch the child gently on the shoulder so as not to startle him and to give him an indication that I am nearby and would like to initiate physical contact.

What I have learned:

I have learned that, although I might do better than most in showing respect for and communicating with infants, I could improve by adopting a few new behaviors; initiating physical contact with an infant gradually and in a respectful manner, asking questions and looking for responses and confirming these responses with the infant.

Reference

Kovach, B., & Da Ros-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with babies. YC: Young Children, 66(2), 48-50. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=60001533&site=ehost-live&scope=site