Children Should Learn English From The Start

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 2, 28 November 1947, Page 6

Children Should Learn English From The Start

(By the Department of Health)

When you tell an experienced parent that your bbay’s taking a dreadfully long time to walk or to talk, you may be told a little cynically, that he will be doing both quite soon enough. Particularly as far as walking is concerned, baby will get along quite well without any help from the parents. Apart from exceptional cases needing medical attention, nature looks after this side of a child’s development in her own way, in her own time. Just because one child toddles a little at 12 months doesn’t mean that another is subnormal because it doesn’t do the same until 15 months. Generally speaking, however, if a child is not able to walk at least a few steps at 15 months or to stand, with support, at 12 months, it is wise to consult a doctor. . But there’s no golden rule for teaching a child to walk. Most of them teach themselves. To try to bring them on too rapidly may do harm.

Best put him in a playpen where he can pull himself up on his feet when he is ready, walk with support from the rails, and at last try the great adventure of crossing from side to side.

Much the same guiding principles of letting things take their course apply to talking. Talking needs more mental effort than anything else baby has to do. Let baby ask for things. Don’t waste your effort and baby’s in teaching words that only he and you can understand. Insist gently but firmly that he pronounce words properly, even if that involves using simpler words than the strictly correct ones. But don’t, if he’s late in talking, fill his mind with “moo-moo” for cow and “baba” for lamb, which he must waste time unlearning later. The best folk to teach children to talk are other children. They stand no nonsense among one another.