BABY SIGNING TIME WITH SARAH


Actually, I had long wanted to teach sarah how to use sign language. As a newmom-to-be, I read in many books when I was pregnant about the benefits of teaching baby sign language to reduce their temper tantrums and frustrations. So when Sarah was born I was quite determined to teach her baby signining.

I went to many book stores to find books on signing for babies but what i saw was many books with only static drawings of the signs on the pages. There were no supporting videos or VCDs to guide the parents. It was because of this that I hesitated to buy the books and resorted to searching the internet. There were 1 or 2 sites that shared a simple video on the correct baby signs. But what I found was that Sarah didn't quite get the idea and didn't respond to it.

When Sarah was abt 13 months old, I read a blog by a Singaporean mom on multiply about how her 10mth old baby started to sign to her. I quickly sourced for it and managed to get my hands on the DVD gift set for S$99! A bit pricey but I thought heck lar, just try lor.

When I finally received it, it came with 2 DVDs and 2 accompanying CDs to play in the car. I played it for Sarah and eagerly awaited for a miracle to happen...and true enough, voila! Within 1 week of watching it, Sarah started baby signing for things : Dog, cat, eat, drink, milk etc. By now, 2 months later, she can sign majority of the things on the DVD. She loved the visuals and the music so much she watched it almost everyday till now. Truth be told, I enjoyed watching it too...very catchy tunes and graphics.

When she's fussy in the car or early in the morning, I play the Baby Signing CDs (coz I don't agree with too much tv in the day) and she's calm. haha! I wish I had found it sooner. Thanks to the mommy on multiply that inspired me! My mother -in-law is very impressed and says that sarah communicates better now (coz she always signs Shoes to Grandma to tell her to bring her out to the garden).

She still has her temper tantrums but at least now for most of the things she needs, she can sign for it.

So this is a MUST have if you want to communicate and develop a better bond with your baby.

I am a firm believer of communication with babies and Signing Times has done a great job with bridging that for me. Many of my colleagues that visit sarah at our place usually get a "free show" of the signs she can do. Her proud grandma never fails to show our visitors how Sarah can communicate with sign language.

Before this, I tried to learn on the web and teach it to her myself. Well, nothing came out of it for 13mths and I just gave up coz she started to talk pretty fast. To my surprise, it simply took the DVD 1 week to teach what I tried teaching her for 13 mths! Amazing stuff.

So don't waste time doing it the hard way...and believe me, there is a better way to communicate with your darling baby.

By the way, the lady who started it, started this project with just a simple vision in mind. Through sheer determination and hard work, this simple project became a hit in the US and has started a new language revolution! Really amazing lady..do read the story of how this lady overcame a family challenge, turned into an entrepreneur with just a simple vision and by charging USD25,000 on her credit cards became successful as a result! You Go Gal! By the way, all the songs are actually written and sung by this entrepreneurial lady!

I'm really so inspired by her! She is one of 3 mothers given the Entrepreneur Mom Award 2007 by Working Mother Magazine for moms who've turned their unique ideas into businesses that make a real difference in their communities, across the country and worldwide. The full article here:

http://vebranch.rgisolutions.com/web;jsessionid=BCCA597FF63D50CC457105E70595DA16.tomcat1?service=direct/1/ViewArticlePage/dlinkFullArticle&sp=254&sp=93

For those who want to know the story of baby signing times, here's the link http://www.signingtime.com/article_info.php?articles_id=2&osCsid=1b606c85b3ffd0e0186cdc7631546fb9

I'm organising a bulk purchase for parents keen on this. For those keen to join in for Baby Signing Malaysia/Singapore, please contact me at eileentan.rm@gmail.com