Little Stories | Early Speech & Language Development

I know it seems like a cruel joke that I’ve kept you waiting so long for the last step of The Magic Of Waiting Series.

Tonight I’m back, and to keep you busy, I’m going to give you ten ways (for YOU) to practice waiting. Just to clarify, this is a practice in patience for parents, not kids!

First, remember to take what you learned from A Magical Interaction to note when your child initiates or responds. Use the lesson you learned about how many beats your child needs you to wait from The Perfect Pause. Keep your child engaged during that pause with the Tell Me Face and while you’re at it, you can even throw in a little I Hold, You Talk Technique AND hold objects up to your face. Then check out the list below and begin to put it all together. You see, it does take PRACTICE, but when you combine all of these techniques together you get that magic over and over.

So to practice, you just take a familiar routine and either 1) do something unexpected OR 2) pause in the middle of the routine. A wonderful mentor, who I credit for much of Little Stories’s excitement and inspiration, called it ‘Tender-Loving Sabotage’ and this is what it looks like:

1. Hold up a book, open it…and wait.

2. Put snack in a container that your child can’t open, hand it to him…and wait.

3. Give your child a splash of a drink instead of a usual pour, let him drink it…and wait.

4. Go to the sink when it’s time to wash hands or brush teeth but don’t turn on the water just yet…and wait.

5. Put your child in or on a swing, have your hands out and ready to push…and wait.

6. Say it’s time to go outside, go sit by the door with your shoes next to you…and wait.

7. When you arrive somewhere or home from a car ride, get into the back seat as you usually would to unbuckle your child from the car seat…and wait.

8. Ready a bath, ask your clothed child to come in the bathroom, look at the water…and wait.

9. When you’re playing with a toy like a farm set, set up the barn, put all of the animals in your lap except for two of the animals, hold those two up for your child to see…and wait.

10. Take the horse from the barn, lay it on it’s side, say “goodnight horse”, pick it up and hand it to your child…and wait.

Then check back with me next week to let me know how your practice went. I’ll be dying to hear your success AND frustrations. Together we can celebrate or problem-solve!

If you liked this topic, we often write about things like waiting, talking less and just being with your child. The best way to get our latest posts on these topics is to subscribe! Do that right here…