Imagine that you are a caregiver at a child care center caring for infants and toddlers.

Instructions

Consider the following scenario:

Imagine that you are a caregiver at a child care center caring for infants and toddlers. As families come to pick up their children, they say the following things to you. Based on what you know about cognitive and language development, how would you respond to them?

Pick one of the following (or certainly more if you wish):

Family Member 1: “The book by baby expert Dr. Jeanyus says that my child should be talking by 13 months. She’s 14 months and just stares at me when I talk to him or ask him a question. I’ve decided I’m going to stop talking to him, which I think will force him to start talking.”

Family Member 2: “I came to this country when I was 22 and learned English when I got here. I speak English with a thick accent, and my English is not always correct. I’m afraid to speak to my child because I don’t think she’ll understand me, and I don’t want her to learn my bad English. I want her to speak English right so she will do well in school. I don’t want to talk to her in my native language because I think that will confuse her.”

Family Member 3: “I don’t understand why all of you here at child care insist on talking to my toddler like they are an adult. It’s a baby, so I talk to them in an appropriate way for their age. You know, ‘Is hissums hungwee? Baybee wants their baba?’ ….Hello! Babies only understand the baby talk!”

Post your response with the title of your assigned scenario (Family Member 1, Family Member 2, or Family Member 3) at the top so that your post is easy to identify.

 In your response:

Explain how you would respond to the family member, including relevant information from Ch.6 about language and cognitive development.

Offer at least one suggestion for how the family member might handle the situation at home, being certain to use content from Ch.6.

Remember to acknowledge the family member’s concern and be respectful, educational, and supportive. Though all families raising young children should take a class like CDF14, the reality is that they do not. So all families need some level of support.