The morning can be a busy time for many families, especially when both parents work outside the home; everyone needs to eat breakfast, get dressed and be ready to leave at a certain time. Get Set for Life's Comfort, Play and Teach: A Positive Approach to Parenting program can be used to make this time of day more enjoyable for you and your preschooler and to support his language development in various ways.
Establishing a morning routine
Preschoolers, like younger children, take great comfort in predictability and in having some control over what they do. As part of your morning routine, whether you are at the breakfast table or in the car, help your child prepare for the rest of the day and practice his language skills by asking him what he will do later on and what he looks forward to. Encourage him to expand on what he said by asking lots of questions like “What games will you play when you go outside?” or “What will you do with your toy truck?” to develop his ability to talk about events and give explanations.
You can also play guessing games such as “I spy” when you are getting ready in the morning, by taking turns saying things like “I spy something that is blue. Can you guess what it is?” This helps your child learn new words, practice asking and answering questions such as “Is it my bowl?” or “Does it have white spots?” and jogs his memory as he tries to remember the names of the objects in his environment.
Talking about the events of the morning is also an effective way for you to teach your preschooler how to reason his way through problems by talking about them. For example, “Your favourite shirt is dirty, and we don't have time to wash it. Let's see what other shirts you have and you can decide what you want to wear today...” or “There are three glasses on the table but there are four of us. How many more glasses do we need?”
Page 1 of 2 -- Learn how to make the morning routine easier on your baby or toddler with tips on page 2
