Hands up if you’ve figured out how to balance your family’s screen time with real world activities? Not me!
In our household, we have some good weeks – daily conversations at the dinner table, and real world adventures. Then, something will come up – usually work or school-related (or both) – and out come those screens. Before we know it, we’ve fallen prey to addictive social media, sensationalist (and negative) newsfeeds, and games and apps designed specifically to devour your time. And it takes a big effort to shake off what can quickly becomes a screen-guzzling habit.
So what to do?
At a law seminar (of all places), I stumbled on a terrific resource for parents and kids, with several tips for staying in control of technology. It was created by the Center for Humane Technology – a not-for-profit co-founded by a former Google employee and ethicist, Tristan Harris.
Here are some of the tips that resonated most with us – both as parents and speech pathologists:
- Lead by example: Especially in the early years, kids learn by watching and imitating their parents and other loved ones. Most kids watch what their parents do – sometimes much more carefully than listening to what we say. If we parents are looking at our phones and other devices frequently, and if we’re distracted by screens rather than engaging with people and physical environment around us, our kids will learn to do exactly the same thing. (To learn more about the positive effects of parent modelling, check out our article here.)
- Device-free zones: In our house, for example, devices are not allowed at the dinner table (including when out at restaurants and cafes with the family) or in bedrooms. That forces us to talk to each other – even on days where one or more of us would rather scroll through social media or tap at sparkly objects on a screen.
- One for the parents: get a standalone alarm clock: Too many of us use our phones as our alarm clock. This tricks us into using our phones, e.g. to look at social media notifications and news, first thing after we wake up, and last thing before we go to bed. One way of eliminating this risk is moving your phones to another room and using a low tech (boring) clock radio to signal when to get up.
- Turn devices off at least an hour before bedtime: Most people are aware of the fact that the blue light emitted by phones and iPads hampers sleep. If you can’t do it (e.g. for work reasons), at least turn your devices into “Night Mode” with less blue light. I’m trying to switch my bad habit of checking my Twitter feed to reading a short story a day. But it’s a battle!
- No devices in the room during homework: This is a tricky one in this age of “bring your own device” to school. But there’s some evidence showing that even the presence of a device can distract students, reducing their cognitive capacity, including their working memory and fluid intelligence on tasks requiring sustained attention (e.g. Ward et al., 2017). Bottom line: put the phone in another room when you are studying.
- Schedule regular screen-free days: Some families manage to to do this once a week. I’m in awe of them! We struggle, in part, because of work commitments, in part, because of bad habits. To do this successfully, it helps to pre-plan activities, including activities with other families and children attempting the same thing!
- Find substitute activities that are relaxing, creative, social and give you a sense of achievement. In our family, we’re scheduling activities like running, reading, learning another language, martial arts and of course our beloved father-son Dungeons & Dragons time.
We hope you find these tips helpful. Check out the links below for several other ideas.
Start with modest changes. And remember: as a society, we’re all in this together!
More resources:
Center for Humane Technology: Education in the Age of Distraction – Tools & Reminders for Parents
Related articles:
- Defrazzle and reconnect: tips for families to talk to each other to stimulate language development
- Defrazzle: Ironfest (huzzah!)
- Resources to learn grammar: using auditory bombardment to improve kids’ expression and grammar skills
Image: https://tinyurl.com/yxep5htb
Banter Speech & LanguageBanter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the PreLit early literacy preparation program by MultiLit, the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.
David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP). David is a part-time Associate Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney’s Graduate School of Health. David sits on Speech Pathology Australia’s Ethics Board and Professional Standards Advisory Committee.
When “steel meets steel”: grammar doesn’t need to be dull
My younger son tells me that talking about language – especially grammar – is boring. But it doesn’t need to be. Especially if you are sneaky!
To illustrate, I decided to review Brown’s 14 grammatical morphemes while attending Ironfest, the annual festival of steel and stuff you can make with it, including swords, armour, steam engines, and tanks.
What?
To recap, back in the 1960s and 1970s, clinical psychologist Roger Brown studied the grammatical development of three typically developing children of approximately 2 to 4 1/2 years of age. From these studies, he identified 14 grammatical morphemes, which he found could be measured reliably over time:
- Present progressive -ing
- Preposition in
- Preposition on
- Regular plural -s
- Irregular past tense verbs (e.g. came, ran, sat, broke)
- Regular possessive –s
- Uncontractible copula (It is [X]. Yes, it is/was. There I am.)
- Articles (a, the, an)
- Past tense regular –ed
- Regular third person –s (e.g. Dad eats.)
- Irregular third person (does, has)
- Uncontractible auxiliary (e.g. She was dancing.)
- Contractible copula (He’s handsome.)
- Contractible auxiliary (Dad’s yelling.)
So let’s get to it. Here’s how my review went down!
1. Present progressive -ing
The soldiers are marching.
2. Preposition in
Rapunzel is in the tower.
3. Preposition on
The warships are floating on the water.
4. Regular plural -s
The queens are smiling.
5. Irregular past tense verbs (e.g. came, ran, sat, broke)
The soldiers held their shields.
6. Regular possessive –s
The falconer‘s peregrine falcon.
7. Uncontractible copula (It is [X]. Yes, it is/was. There I am.)
Was the sun going down? Yes, it was.
8. Articles (a, the, an)
A carriage is parked on the grass.
9. Past tense regular –ed
The band played.
10. Regular third person –s (e.g. Dad eats.)
The performer balances.
11. Irregular third person (does, has)
The man has a steam engine and does a lap of the showground.
12. Uncontractible auxiliary (e.g. She was dancing.)
He was cycling.
13. Contractible copula (He’s handsome.)
He’s scary.
14. Contractible auxiliary (Dad’s yelling.)
The wrestler’s jumping.
Related articles:
Principal source: R. Brown, A First Language: Early Stages, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (1973).
Get out there! Being social and kind to others makes kids happier, better-liked, and less likely to be bullied
We all want our kids to be happy, well-behaved and well-liked by peers. But, sometimes – despite our best hopes – they struggle. And few things in life are as stressful as seeing your child suffer as they withdraw from their friends and avoid activities they used to enjoy.
So what can we do as parents to help our kids to be happy?
Kristin Loyous and colleagues studied this question back in 2012. After reviewing peer-reviewed research, they observed that:
- happiness, being social and popular were compatible goals: they often occur together; and
- students who are well-liked also tend to be helpful, cooperative and emotionally well-adjusted.
Based on these observations, the researchers conducted an experiment involving 19 classes of 9-11 year-olds in Canada:
- one group were asked to perform three small acts of kindness a week for four weeks; and
- a second group were asked to visit three places per week for four weeks.
At the end of the study, students in both groups were happier. But the students who performed acts of kindness experienced greater increases in their acceptance by their peers than the students who simply visited places.
Why being kind and social matters
Being well-liked by classmates makes kids more likely to participate actively in academic and social activities at school, and less likely to be bullied. Encouraging pro-social activities may therefore have ripple effects for the community beyond increasing happiness and popularity of the kids involved.
Clinical bottom line and practical example
To help kids to be happy and well-adjusted, consider increasing the number of times per week they are expected to engage in pro-social activities. It doesn’t take much time or effort to apply the research outlined above.
For example, in my household, we (the parents!) have decided to set minimum targets for each of our boys, namely to:
- do small acts of good for others three times a week (e.g. giving mum a hug, sharing a toy with a sibling without squabbling, or completing chores without being asked); and
- get out of the house, and do more social activities three times a week (e.g. visiting grandparents, playing team sports, or going for a long walk or bike ride as a family or with others).
To track progress, the boys will keep a simple diary summarising how they’ve met the targets.
(As an aside, there’s nothing to stop many of us parents from applying these tips to our own social lives! It might be time for us to put down our smart phones, turn off the Netflix, and sign up to our local trivia competition with fellow time-poor parents!)
We hope these tips help your kids and your families become happier! Let us know how you get on!
Principal source: Layous, K., Nelson, S.K., Oberle, E., Schonert-Rechl, K.A. & , Lyubomirsky, S. (2012). Kindness Counts: Prompting Social Behaviour in Preadolescents Boosts Peer Acceptance and Well-Being. PLOS One, 7(2), e51380
Image: https://tinyurl.com/male9lu
Banter Speech & LanguageBanter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the PreLit early literacy preparation program by MultiLit, the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.
David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP).
Defrazzle, explore, re-engage and stimulate higher level language skills with new sights and sounds
Leonardo Da Vinci. Benjamin Franklin. Marie Curie. Albert Einstein. Ursula Le Guin. Steve Jobs. Great lives; with not much in common, except burning curiosity about the worlds they lived in.
If you want your kids to talk more, follow their interests. If their interests seem to orbit sluggishly around iPads and Play Stations, jolt them awake with new sights and sounds. Anything unexpected will do!
Last Sunday – between the grind of hanging out the washing, Term 4 homework, report-writing and music practice – we traipsed into the free Museum of Contemporary Art for an hour. Instead of reviewing the work logically, we simply followed the kids around and listened to them, commenting, imitating and interpreting what they said to us. Initially unsure of what to think, the boys quickly revelled in bossing us about. Before we knew it, they’d co-invented a chatter-laden game of re-naming the art according to first impressions.
So – with sincere apologies to the talented artists and their artistic intentions – what follows is a selection of what the Banter Boys came up with in our hour of freedom from our weekend routines. A highly recommended language experiment. Enjoy!
“Everything that is Living, Mixed in One Body”
“Mineral Faces”
“Post-apocalypse”, “Rome and Ancient Egypt”, “After War”
“Sheep Men Think of Minotaurs”
“Workplace”
“Forest”
“Virus”
“Ugly duckling”
“Pig’s mess”
“Spikes of Fury”
“Seen but not Heard”
Banter Speech & LanguageBanter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the PreLit early literacy preparation program by MultiLit, the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.
David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP).
Learn to love being stuck in traffic with your kids: here’s how
If, like me, you live in a city with limited public transport and terrible roads, you’ll spend lots of time in the car with your kids. For some of us, that time can feel wasted. Lost. Dead.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
With only a bit of planning, even painful gridlock with wailing kids in the back can be converted into enjoyable family time.
Here’s how:
Change your mindset – the advantages of family time in the car
Lots of car advertisements trumpet personal freedom: sitting in the car alone without a care in the world, tearing down a deserted highway with the windows and top down and the music up. The reality – especially for us suburban dads and mums inching our way through Saturday sports traffic in our SUVs and station-wagons – is very different. But, even when trapped with loved ones at close quarters strapped into your seats, a car is not a prison. As Igor Stravinsky said “the more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self”. And, compared to home, cars have a lot of advantages:
- Time. For Dads who work long hours, the school drop-off may be one of the best (or only) times available to chat with their kids during the week. And this is true of some Mums, grandparents and other carers too.
- Fewer distractions. Travelling together in the car gives you uninterrupted time with your kids. While the purity of this “time alone” has been diluted by the increased use of smart phones, back seat DVD players and other devices, you’re still physically separated from the rest of the world together.
- Lack of eye-contact. This may seem a disadvantage in light of the research about the importance of face-to-face interactions for young or language-delayed kids. But some children are much more likely to experiment with sounds, singing and even language without an adult directly looking at them (e.g. kids that get embarrassed easily).
- Less physical parent intervention. I once glanced in my rear view mirror and beheld the sight of my son thrashing about with his jumper stuck around his head. Kids have to be more self-sufficient in the back of the car. If you’re a parent who rushes to anticipate your child’s every need, being physically unable to do so easily may give your child more opportunities to help themselves or to ask for help – to initiate more interactions with you, which is good for language development.
- More interactions between siblings. This can, of course, go either way. But studies show that siblings interact with each other for longer and in more ways when they are stuck next to each other in the car. As most parents know, apart from squabbles, the back-seat/front-seat divide can also foster a cheeky “kids versus parents” dynamic that brings siblings closer together – even if at the expense of poor Dad or Mum!
- Relaxation and time for reflection. After a hard day at school, a meltdown-tantrum at Grandma’s house, or a soccer win, cars can provide an opportunity to reflect on the things that have happened. For older children and young adults, car trips can also provide an opportunity for discussions about difficult topics. Again, I suspect the reduced eye contact in a car might be one reason sensitive topics can be broached more easily on the drive home, than face-to-face at the dinner table.
- Changing gears. One rather poetic researcher talks about the car being a place “betwixt and between” social environments. In plain English, I think she meant that car trips often happen between the time we spend in the outside world with strangers and the time we spend at home with family.
15 activities to try out
- Sing songs and make up verses: For younger kids, try “Wheels on the Bus”, but add silly verses for each family member (e.g. the Dad on the bus went “shush shush shush!”, the Grandma on the bus went “no, no, no!”). For older kids make up alternative lyrics to their favourite songs or songs on the radio. The sillier the better!
- Listen and wiggle to music: For the little-lys, I favour old school nursery rhymes, like my retro-beloved Patsy Biscoe, with lots of actions and repetition. But, as with movies, music for kids is much more sophisticated these days. Personal favourites include the For The Kids album featuring artists like Tom Waits, Cake and Sarah McLachlan. I also like some of the independent children’s music “radio stations” you can stream from services like Pandora and Spotify.
- Name that tune: Take it in turns to hum a song, while everyone else tries to guess what it is.
- Opera-talk: Use a silly “opera” (or monster or fairy) voice to sing rather than say your words. To keep it simple, use the “na-na-na-na-na-na” tune kids use when they are teasing each other (e.g. “na-na-na-na-na-na-you-can’t-have-it”). Alternate comments and questions to avoid it becoming an interrogation and to keep it going e.g.:
Dad: “I can see a tree-ee”.Mum: “I can see a green ga-ate. What can you see?”Child: “I can see a…”
- Listen to gripping audio-books: My little guys used to love Roald Dahl audio books and CDs – particularly Esio Trot, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me and The Witches – look for talented narrators like Simon Callow, Hugh Laurie, Geoffrey Palmer and Miriam Margolyes. But what captivated us the most were the old-fashioned Enid Blyton Famous Five mysteries. We’ve spent many a day-trip worried about the fate of know-it-all-Julian, second-fiddle-Dick, girly-girl-Anne, tomboyish-George and Timmy the Dog! It also helped get my first son into reading the “real book” at home.
- Podcasts: Whether your kids are into dinosaurs, trucks, beanie babies, or dolphins, these days you can download or stream podcasts on almost any topic from places like iTunes or Stitcher. Replace the inanity of FM radio with a podcast on your child’s favourite thing in the world, and you’ll have one riveted kid and something to talk about together. You might even learn something yourself.
- I Spy: An oldie, but a goodie, the “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…” game has powered us from Sydney to Dubbo. As kids get better at it, start throwing in more difficult things to spot, e.g. parts of objects and less concrete nouns (I once flummoxed my kids with “shoelace”); and giving less obvious clues (e.g. it starts with a letter in the second-half of the alphabet, it has seven letters).
- Counting and sorting games: Start with competitions to spot the most white versus red cars, one kid to each colour. Then extend the competition to other features e.g. car make, number of seats, roof-racks, etc. Extend the game into counting and sorting other objects you might see on your drive (e.g. trees, buildings, power-lines, petrol stations, rest stops) and talk about attributes, e.g. colour, shape, textures, materials, tastes, size, sounds, smells. These games can morph in all sorts of directions, and, where possible, follow your kids’ interests. For example, armed with her trusty “What Bird is That?”, my sister became quite the twitcher as a young girl.
- Road sign bingo: search for all the letters of the alphabet in road signs. For older kids, get them to find them in order, or find each of the letters for their full names, or their weekly spelling words.
- Find number plates for every State and Territory of your country. (Good for interstate road trips.)
- Where are we going?: For young school-age kids, get them to spot street signs and local landmarks (e.g. the library). For older kids, print out a detailed map of your drive, and get the kids to chart where you have been.
- Can you beat Siri/Google Maps?: Let the kids pretend to be your GPS navigator to direct you using spatial terms and directions (first, next, last, left, right, turn). Will you reach your destination?
- Bumper sticker debates: This is for older kids. Start with simply reading bumper stickers. Then discuss what they mean literally, looking for double meanings, puns, famous sayings, jokes, etc. to discuss. Then imagine what kind of person drives the car and why they would want the chosen bumper sticker on their car. Start with simple ones (e.g. the clichéd “Child on Board” or much-maligned stick figure families). For older children, look for more complex stickers (e.g. for commercial stickers, ask “What are they trying to sell us?”) and controversial bumper stickers (e.g. on political, religious, social justice and environmental topics). Discuss what kind of bumper sticker each of you would get on your car and what it would tell people about them. Can your family agree on a perfect bumper sticker for the whole family?
- New trading card characters: Are your children into trading cards, e.g. Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh!? If so, talk about the different types of characters, e.g. Pokemon come in Electric, Metal, Grass, Fairy, Psychic, Dragon, Water and various other stripes. Who knew!? Take it in turns to add made up characters to each of the types, e.g. today we added bindi, whipper-snipper and water-fountain-feature to the Grass type.
- Awesome singing and jokes: In my experience, nothing is more likely to provoke a furious reaction from the back than Dad belting out a power-ballad or cracking a hilarious Dad-joke!
Principal sources:
(1) Huisman Koops, L. (2014). Songs from the Car Seat: Exploring the Early Childhood Music-Making Place of the Family Vehicle. Journal of Research in Music Education, 62(1), 52-65.
(2) Norton-Meier, L.A. (2004). The bumper sticker curriculum: Learning from words on the backs of cars. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48:3, 260-283.
(3) Family experiments with brilliant Dad jokes and songs.
Image: http://tinyurl.com/jcpe5k4
Banter Speech & LanguageBanter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.
David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP).
Come on Dad! What we can do to help our kids’ language development
As my wife and sisters tell me from time-to-time: it’s not babysitting when it’s playing with your own kids!
I’m not going to lie, though. Lots of the research on kids and language development assumes Mum is doing most of the work. And, in many cases, it’s a fair assumption.
But it’s certainly not always the case. In the last couple of years, I’ve noticed a growing number of stay-at-home, work-from-home, working part-time, job-sharing, and single dads who more than hold their own when it comes to raising their kids. Even in families where dad works long hours away from home, and mum is the primary caregiver, there are hundreds of simple things dads can do to help, too. In this article, I’ll share my best examples.
Before we get into it, when I talk about “dads”, I mean anyone in a child’s life that is a father figure. It can be an older brother, uncle, cousin, granddad, mentor, neighbour – any young adult or adult male who’s important to the child.
Some of these tips and suggestions are particularly useful if your child has a language or developmental delay. But most apply to all kids and all dads.
So here are some suggestions:
1. Rough-housing
This includes:
- pretend fighting, e.g. superheroes v super villains, Kung Fu/Ninja masters, good v bad knights, Jedi Knights v Sith Lords, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles;
- physically picking up your child and/or flinging them about (e.g. playing horsy, wheelbarrow rides, piggy-back rides, “aeroplanes”, and spinning around/upside down games);
- play-wrestling;
- creeping-up games (e.g. What’s the Time, Mr Wolf?) and chasing games;
- jumping games, e.g. off tree stumps, into pools, down slip n’ slides, on trampolines; and
- water pistols and Nerf guns.
Some research says that physical play can encourage risk taking within a safe and secure environment (e.g. Bretherton et al., 2005). Other research says that dads can challenge the child, complementing the mother’s role in caring and comforting (Roggman et al., 2002). Dads (on average) have a more active play style, which has been linked to helping children to control their emotions, calm themselves down, refocus and wait for things patiently (Volling et al., 2002).
2. Pretend reading and writing games
Literacy development starts when children are exposed to printed text, books and writing at home (Strickland et al., 1990). Fathers can play a big role in getting their kids into words and books from a young age (e.g. Saracho, 2008).
Dads can help by:
- letting the kids see them enjoying reading (books, magazines, news on an iPad);
- “reading” picture books together – follow the child’s lead – no need to stick to the page order or printed words;
- working together on alphabet puzzles;
- making shopping lists together, e.g. circling things to buy in a hardware catalogue or brainstorming ideas for presents for Mum;
- engaging in pretend typing races;
- playing scribble games; and
- doing chalk-writing and drawing games, e.g. in the backyard.
3. Outdoor games that lend themselves to chatter/debate/hilarity:
- hide and seek;
- practising hitting balls off softball tees or with cricket bats;
- tag/chasing games;
- catch/kick games;
- acting out favourite apps (e.g. Clash of Clans), or trading card games (e.g. Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!);
- quoits;
- frisbee play;
- kite-flying;
- digging in sandpits (e.g. for treasure);
- velcro darts;
- backyard bowling;
- family tug-o-wars;
- trench digging in the garden, including mud-pie tossing;
- toy bow and arrow hunting expeditions;
- pin-the-tail on the donkey;
- tree-climbing and fort making;
- hunting for worms, insects, frogs, etc;
- butterfly catching;
- making ant houses;
- attempting to hatch Sea Monkeys;
- “spying” games with binoculars;
- wild science experiments with slime and smoke and foul stenches;
- backyard camping nights in tents telling fairy tales and age-appropriate ‘ghost’ stories;
- making shelters and nests with sticks and leaves; and
- putting on plays for Mum in the backyard “theatre”.
4. Made up activities based on “active books”
Choose books that are age-appropriate but lend themselves to active play/games or active discussion. Can’t think of one to buy/borrow from the local library? Here are some suggestions, along with activity suggestions for each:
- Guess Whose Shadow: chase your shadows.
- Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type: pretend to type messages to each other.
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!: make a bus out of a cardboard box.
- Dinosaur Roar!: bury dinosaur figures in the dirt/sand, then dig them up.
- Fire Truck: Make a truck. Use trucks to respond to emergencies around the house.
- Go Away, Big Green Monster: hide photos around the house and then find them.
- Who Sank the Boat? Make a boat and animals and act it out.
- Grandpa Green: Collect leaves and see if you can squeeze the green dye out.
- Walter the Farting Dog: add sound effects!
- Rudie Nudie: run around the backyard sans clothes!
- Tap Tap Bang Bang: get out some toy tools and bang things.
- Building with Dad: make a sand box.
- Not a Box: cut up big boxes and turn them into houses, tunnels, forts.
- Mr George Baker: make musical instruments out of spoons, tin cans, old milk jugs.
- (older kids) Treehouse series: draw your own treehouse.
Of course, you don’t actually need the book to do any of the above activities!
5. Secret and other “missions”
These types of games help kids learn about the world. Here’s some ideas (and some props you’ll need to find/make):
- emergency response units: clipboards, paper, pens, bandaids, cotton balls, gloves, paddle-pop sticks, toy stethoscope, toy people, toy vehicles;
- restaurant: clipboards, paper, pens, table, tablecloth, plates and cutlery, menus, apron, chef’s hat, food;
- woodwork: hammers, plywood, glue, buttons, nails, screws;
- construction: toy trucks/diggers, sand/dirt, shovels, blocks/rocks, shells, toy people/animals/dinosaurs;
- farming: toy animals, farm-house, “grass”, fences, toy tractors;
- office: keyboards/computers, pens, paper, stationery, staplers, hole punches;
- fishing: water, fish, fishing rods, boats, “sharks”, sea monsters;
- spies: torches, walkie-talkies, secret ink (aka lemon juice), morse code and semaphore charts;
- pirates: hats, flags, coins/treasure, hook-hands, planks (to walk), toy parrot/bird, eyepatch, cutlasses; and
- Holy Grail searches: armour, horses, swords, lances, “grails”.
6. Songs and silly voices
- You don’t need to be a good singer. Just ask my kids! (Although, secretly, I know I’m a good singer.)
- With younglings, go for songs with lots of repetition and that you can act out, e.g. Wheels on the Bus, Humpty Dumpty (falling off walls) or the Grand Old Duke of York (marching up to tops of hills and marching down again). For older kids, get them to teach you their favourite songs, even if they pretend they’re horrified by your interest.
- Don’t underestimate the comic effect of dad putting on a funny voice or ridiculous accent, especially for kids used to seeing a very serious/stressed dad going to and coming back from work during the week.
Some final language tips for dads when playing with their kids
- Get down to their level – look at them eye-to-eye, even if you have to squat down or lie on your stomach to look them in the eye.
- Follow what your kid does – not what you want to do or what you think is the “right way” of playing a game or reading a book. Start off by imitating their actions, sounds and words and/or wait for them to choose something to play with, then join in.
- Focus on things the child is interested in. Whether it’s trucks, dinosaurs, Octonauts, princesses, fairies, trains, Pokemon, superheroes, cooking or tools, kids are more likely to pay attention to things they are into.
- Make sure you talk about what you’re doing/what’s happening as you go.
- Cut down or avoid activities where your kid doesn’t need any input from you and/or where he/she is so immersed he/she stops talking, e.g. some kids with Lego or blocks. Reduce activities with no face-to-face interaction with another human, e.g. watching TV or playing Minecraft.
- As you act things out, use lots of specific verbs, e.g. lift, throw, catch, drop, hit, stir, grill, etc.
- Stockall, N. & Dennis, L. (2013). Fathers’ Role in Play: Enhancing Early Language and Literacy of Children with Developmental Delays. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41:299-306.
- Wild experiments at home.
Image: http://tinyurl.com/z26zquv
Banter Speech & LanguageBanter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.
David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP).