Self-talk. It’s kind of like description. If you missed the Description post, check it out before you go much further. Self-talk is Description’s very mature cousin. Instead of providing play by play of what your child is doing, you are providing play by play of what you are doing.

There is only one thing that is more interesting to your child than his play, it’s your work. Think about how many times your child has attempted to imitate how you load the dishwasher, how you fold the laundry, how you put things in the trash, and in some cases (not mine), how you clean. How can these mundane activities teach your kiddo language? Excellent question!

Pick an activity. Go on, any activity. Oooh, that’s a good one. Washing dishes. I hate washing dishes. My husband loves it. He is an amazing human being. After the kids go to bed he cracks open a beer and turns on a podcast while he scrubs dishes. It’s his man time. I’m into it.

Sorry…sorry, back to self-talk. So you are doing dishes and your little one comes bee bopping into the kitchen. Here we go, here it comes…..”Scrub the pan. Scrub scrub scrub. I scrub the plate.” You have just given your child the opportunity to hear a new word (in this case we have targeted the word “scrub”) along with the opportunity to see it in action.

Just think about all the learning opportunities you can open up to your child using self-talk throughout the day! Making breakfast, washing your face, putting on your make up, getting dressed….I could go on and on. And really moms, we are only going to be this interesting to our children for a short while. Let’s take advantage of it!