Daily Descriptions

As a mother of two children, I always find joy in talking and listening to my kids. Young children deserve our undivided attention. As adults, we need to model respect during conversations by treating our kids the way we would want to be treated when it’s our turn to speak. By looking into our preschooler’s eyes and observing their facial expressions and body language, we gain a better understanding of what they are trying to say. By listening closely, we also come up with more appropriate responses to their concerns.

You can also use these conversations to observe closely how developed your child’s language skills are. Does your child use adjectives to describe things? If your child is talking about a dog, does he or she refer to it simply as a dog, or are the words ‘big,’ ‘black,’ or ‘fluffy’ used too? Encourage your child to use more adjectives during conversations by asking them to describe things to you.

You can make this easier for them by creating a language-rich environment in your home. Books would certainly help a lot, so invest in children’s books you and your kids can read through anytime of the day. Make bedtime stories part of your nightly routine as well. You will soon realize that reading regularly together sparks many opportunities for your kids, not just in social interactions but in other creative pursuits too. Reading also enriches your child’s language development.

In order to train your child better on language use, you can play some descriptive games at home as well. Describe an object by using adjectives and let your child guess what it is. Start simple and place three objects (or pictures of objects) in front of your child. You may have a ball, a block, and a book.   You could say, “I’m thinking of something that is large and round and smooth.” Your child can then guess which of the objects is being described based on the words large, round, and smooth. More than one object might be large, but only one is round—this means the object being described is the ball!

These exercises are also a great way to expand your child’s vocabulary, seeing as he or she learns new words at the same time. The more you do this exercise together, the sharper your child’s observation skills get, and the more words he or she learns!