The baby signing thing reminds me of Meet the Fockers – hilarious. – “Asss….hooooooooole”

Don’t get me started on the “guilt trip about BF that the health workers lay on you” – feeling that one at the mo !
I haven’t even had my (first) baby yet and am already aware of the Competative nature of these freakish mothers who, as you point out, have no discernable life of their own, they use their children as measures of their own success or status in the world – how sad.
They are on the Forums, in the playgrounds and lurking round every corner ready to justify their own skewed moral stance and lack of personaality by making you feel bad about a choice you have made for yourself or your baby especially when it comes to buying impractical brand name items so they can laud it over you and feel superior.
Sod ‘em.
I have never bought into this peer pressure bullshit for ANYTHING and am not about to start now I have a small person to consider in my life.

Amazingly enough, in the 60s, 70s & 80s, when most of the current generation of parents were born, there were none of these new-fangled things, and we still managed to survive long enough to procreate.

Kids are resilient little things, after all (except in the tragic cases when they are terrifyingly fragile). In many cases, they even bounce – I know I did.

Baby Signing – our classes can give your baby
a developmental head-start
Baby SigningBaby signing helps them learn to communicate before they can talk

Baby signing – in TinyTalk classes – teaches Baby sign language – a form of pre-verbal communication. Babies understand so much before they can talk!
From as early as 6 to 9 months old, babies can begin to tell you what they want, what they are thinking about and how they feel.

No longer do you have to ‘guess’ the cry! (Tired? Hungry? Hot? Cold? Damp nappy? Aargh!) My own son reminded me, by baby signing, that I had not given him his morning milk thank you very much!

Signing babies can also tell you so much more than just these basic needs. For example, they can tell you that they have seen a ‘duck’ in the park or that they are excited that it is ‘bath’ time!
Babies’ control of their hands develops long before their control of their vocal cords and co-ordination of the movement of lips, tongue and teeth to make understood speech sounds as recognised words (often as late as 18 months).

Baby Signing Baby signing bridges this very wide gap aiding communication, giving them a means to begin to understand everything! Early language development and understanding also encourages early speech as the signs are always said at the same time. Babies’ initial words will be inaccurate but will develop with maturity. Baby signing also strengthens the child-parent/carer understanding and bond. And baby signing also reduces frustration, boosts self-esteem and self-confidence: in short making for very happy parents and carers and even happier babies!

When my son was 9 months old we had a Dr’s appointment and while sitting in the waiting room a mum with a baby the same age made a big deal about the fact that he wasn’t crawling yet. She even went as far as to suggest that I ask the Doctor to check if there was anything wrong with his legs! (At which point, I employed superhuman powers of restraint and did NOT smack her inthe chops). But, as they say, revenge is a dish best served cold – so it was sweet when we saw each other the next month and my little darling was up and walking (never even bothered to crawl – skipped that stage entirely) while hers was still on hands and knees.

There are the others who criticised me for bringing him up wsith two languages (I’m British, his Dad’s Greek, we live in Athens, so isn’t is natural?) because I would delay his verbal development (utter b*****ks, I might add). And yet these were the same parents who had thier poor little sprogs booked up to the eyeballs by the time they were two, with piano lessons, ballet classes, French, and baby gymnastics.

Poor little sods had to start over-acheiving before they can talk for fear of letting Mummy down (Mummy, of course, being in a state of permanent panic – and on a constant diet – for fear of being found anything less than perfect).

The truth – thank goodness – is that there is more than one right answer. What’s good for one kid, is not right for another. Every child does things in their own good time – and every adult does what feels right for their children. Our instincts are usually a good guide. Sometimes we screw up, but that’s OK. Proves we’re human. And it probably won’t permanently traumatise our little darlings.

So, do what you feel is right (which you obviously are) and forget about the ranks of insecure perfect self-named Yummy Mummies (I REALLY hate that expression).

And while we’re at it, what the bleedin’ blazed is ‘baby signing’???