{Tuesday's Tip} How Family Dinner Helps Your Child's Language

Dinners are important in our homes.  First of all, if we are sitting around a table, we can see each other.  This is important to the socialization of families.  Sitting face to face, looking at each other, observing facial expressions and body language.  This is all part of our social experience.  Socializing at the dinner table can help us not only to feel more connected as a family but these face to face interactions can help our children learn so many social and language skills while at the dinner table. This Tuesday's Tip is all about sharing ways of...

Here are some that I've noticed with my own kids: 

{1} Children learn to follow simple directions.  "Please pass the carrots."  "Put a napkin at each person's plate."  "Put the milk, butter, and jam on the table."

{2} Simple directions also teach our children prepositions.  "Push the chair under the table." "Put the cup above the plate."  "Place the water in the center of the table." "Put the napkin on the plate."

{3} Children learn manners.  Waiting, taking turns, saying "please," "thank you," and "may I be excused."  We don't say, "yuck, I hate that," instead we say, "no, thank you."

{4} Ask your children open-ended questions.  "What did you do at recess today?"  "What was your favorite thing you did today?"  They have to figure out a response and become independent thinkers.

{5} Children can ask us questions.  "How do carrots grow?"  "What is this?"  "What are we doing after dinner?"  Children are curious and want to learn and be included.  Dinner is a great time to teach them.

{6} Little ones who are not yet verbal hear others speaking.  They recognize familiar words and learn new ones. They also watch how we interact with one another and learn how we treat each other.  They learn that there is waiting before the next person speaks.  It is amazing all the things that our little ones learn simply by observing!

{7} Families build connections and relationships at the dinner table which are so essential for trust.  Language is more fluid and natural when we feel we are in a safe place. These connections and trust can grow with the child no matter how old they are.

{8} Dinners can be a time to relax and enjoy.  Children don't feel drilled or that they need to perform.  This aids in more language and learning because when you aren't stressed about teaching,  it often happens naturally.

{9} Using idea's from this blog can make dinners fun, different, and enjoyable. :) A change in pace or trying new things at family dinner time may trigger more conversation with your children because you have them focused and engaged.  Maybe you will discover a new interest. 

{10} Children love routines. Yes, it's good to change things up to challenge our children, to find things that interest our children.  But, routine is also very important.  Young children thrive on routine.  They thrive on understanding what happens next. This helps them feel safe and comfortable, which allows them to relax and talk.  Ways to do this include: have dinner at the same time everyday, give your children the same dinner time chores, have your children do the same activities right before and after dinner (like finish homework before and take a bath after), etc. 

{11} Problem solving skills that are important to language can be learned at dinner time.  Children are learning how to scoop, eat with utensil, drink from a cup, try new foods, cut with a knife, etc.

These are just some of the reasons why it is important to try and have regular family dinners together. If our children are in front of a TV or playing video games, they will miss out on ALL of these social and language benefits. If we are always texting, making phone calls, using Facebook, or are just to busy, we will also miss out. Sure, there are times when life is so busy that it's all we can do to pass the happy meals back over the seat so the kids can eat before the next activity. (Been there done that!) But even in those moments, are there ways we can still take a minute to engage our children and help them learn these essential skills?

Kids with better language will do better in school because they will understand more of what the teacher is telling them.  They learn language by there interactions with us.  It does not cost anything to talk to our children.  IT IS FREE!  We just need to invest the time.