Programming Tips

Jane Cobb's new book, What'll I Do With the Baby-O? is a fabulous resource for storytimes! The CD affixed to the back cover of the book is ingenious... why hasn't anyone thought of this before??? I'm particurly fond of the lullaby Babushka Baio. Sigh.

Here are some poignant, research-based points she makes in the first part of the book:
30- "research on child abuse and neglect reveals that infants who have not been held and touched enough [from birth to eighteen months] will develop brains that are 20-30% smaller in size than normal children of the same age."
Isn't that the saddest thing that this kind of research even exists? I suppose it was born from the 50's when scientists disasterously claimed that hugging and snuggling with your young children "spoils" them.

34- "The parent's use of exaggerated inflections and animated facial expressions helps the baby tune in to the speech patterns of the language. Babies respond to this by making faces, wiggling their bodies, kicking their feet, and showing excitement."
"Parenthese" or "motherese" is a new thing I learned in this course. It's so instinctual to raise your voice when talking to babies so I knew it wasn't a bad thing! But now I know there is an actual term attached to it with research to back its effectiveness.

39- "Babies who are introduced to age-appropriate books from infancy on will grow up loving books. It's that simple."
Sooo... what about those people who read Tolkien to their babes in utero? Age appropriate- I think not! Kidding aside, I sure hope it's that simple. My son is in kindergarten and I am doing- and have done- everything within my power to help him in his early literacy years. I joke to my family that if he has trouble learning to read, then all this research is blown to *%$@!

43- "The strong rhythm and beat of nursery rhymes when accompanied by a parent's rhythmic body movement, helps the baby absorb the patterns and rhythms of language with her whole body."
I really like the idea of the physical manifestation of language. It reminds me of clapping out syllables when I was in grade two. I never understood why some kids simply didn't get it- you know, the kids who clapped out "banana" five times! I suppose they weren't exposed to many nursery rhymes in their early literacy years.

45- "Singing also relaxes the adult in stressful situations, and provides an outlet for adult frustration."
AMEN! Just the other day, when my two year old was in the climax of yet ANOTHER tantrum, I carried her kicking and screaming to a quite place. I started to sing "Tall Trees" (a lullaby we sing at bedtime together). It took all of 30 seconds before she was joining in and waving her arms in the air. I honestly don't know what to do when she tantrums sometimes, so these songs help to calm me down and luckily, it helps her calm down too. She probably feels my tension ease.

All in all, I love the book and will buy a copy for myself. Love it, love it!