Most parents soon discover how difficult it is to communicate with their baby, and there are days that parents might wish that their children were born talking. It would make things so much easier if their baby had the ability to communicate what they need or want. Or for the crying baby to be able to tell Mom and Dad in baby-talk what was hurting or bothering the infant in the middle of the night when his/her cries for help woke the parents out of a sound sleep.
Herein lies the problem: there is a failure to communicate. There are no baby adult common language communication skills available for the infant or the parents to have a baby-needs conversation. It is such a helpless feeling to hold a crying, fussing, infant, and when the parents have no clue what he/she wants or what will bring comfort. The parents’ hope is that with their calming voice and their baby-talk the “we can work it out” message will get through, and the baby will fall back to sleep.
As parents struggle to work with the wordless baby-talk they start learning, through trial and error, as they begin learning a second language which is the baby’s first sign of speech though wordless. Parents can pick up clues to the baby’s needs over time, and the baby will also find a way to communicate those needs to the parents hopefully. The infant’s baby-talk, gestures or type of cries, offers new signs for communication, thus baby-talk closes the communication gap. As parents learn baby-talk, as parents share more baby-talk, understanding baby-talk becomes happy-talk. Even baby-talk play has meaning with the baby’s smiles and laughter.
Introducing baby and toddler books to your child can become a fun and beneficial aid to both you and your baby or toddler, and help bridge the gap between both worlds of words and actions, lessening the frustration for the family. One such story does just that, in the tale of Knuffle Bunny.
