Babies and children need ways to express themselves. Since they are children, often they cannot communicate in regular words. That is why is so important to practice verbal communication with children.

If we don’t pay attention soon enough, our children may lose interest in investigating, growing, problem-solving, you name it. More often than not, children feel misunderstood or not heard.

They sometimes become withdrawn and limit their interaction. That is why it is of crucial importance to pay attention to verbal communication development with children.

Developing Positive Verbal Environment Is Very Important For Children

Verbal interactions are a very general term. They do entail so much of it. From basic parent-children communication to nannies or teachers communicating with children, there is a huge spectrum of types of verbal interactions.

Both verbal and non-verbal communication in childcare is important since even your nonverbal communication sends a certain message to children. As we are all aware, there are always positive and negative communication environments.

What we should achieve on an everyday basis is to create a positive and nurturing verbal environment for children. I know it sounds a bit holistic, but trust us when we say that children do feel positive connections. It is especially rewarding when they are interacting with caring adults.

Unlike negative verbal environments where children feel unlovable and unworthy, positive environments are focused on building and maintaining positive relationships. It is an absolute must that children feel safe, loved, and cared for.

How Do We Create A Positive Verbal Environment For Children

We as adults are developing ourselves through relationships with other people. Children are indeed small people and through creating their own relationships, children discover who they are, how to understand others, and how to keep and maintain their relationships.  In the same way, nonverbal communication is important for toddlers, both nonverbal and especially verbal communication are very important in childcare. The thing is that relationship-building describes the process of creating emotional connections with others.

When young children experience people understanding and loving them, they will approach the world with openness, enthusiasm, and good healthy positive energy. If you experience that kind of environment from a young age, you will also become a caring, supportive, confident, and successful person.

Here are a couple of ways we can do that:

• Engage them in conversation often
• Provide children encouragement during the conversations
• Speak politely
• Use all of your active listening skills

Develop Verbal Communication In Childcare By Engaging Them in Conversation Often

Especially if you talk a lot you should use all that talking to talk to your children. Ask them regular questions. How they have been or simply what is going on outside. They will be over the moon to tell you trust me since everything is so interesting to them, and sharing that will you will be so awesome for them.

You don’t have to wait a perfect moment to start a conversation with children. Same as with adults, you may ask them about the weather. Unlike random, boring descriptions of snow that adults have been giving you, a child will give you magical descriptions mixed with their “incredible” adventures.

For teachers, especially with children who are 5-7, snack time is perfect timing to talk with the children they have been teaching to. They are all relaxed, the environment is cozy and friendly. In addition, it is a great time to create a perfect student-teacher bond.

Of course, not all children will want to talk. Adults and children both can be introverted. Still, you have probably heard that introverts make friends in a way that an “extrovert” adopts them. So, the quietest kid in class would also like to share its version of sunshine and rainbows. Don’t be afraid to ask questions – this goes for teachers, parents, and caretakers.

Provide Children With Encouragement During Conversations

Children are often self-conscious a lot. They can be very sensitive and insecure. That is why it is of crucial importance to encourage them with love and affection. Any bad word or yelling can indeed affect them in a negative manner, so be careful. You are an adult, therefore you are responsible for their well-being.

Following their lead is of course important because it will show them that you respect them. Still, when you are providing them encouragement to keep them talking, they will feel empowered and confident. In that way, you are building a firm, long-lasting relationship. Creating a healthy bond is essential for children to grow into self-confident individuals.

What you also need to pay attention to when you interact with children is to give them enough space. You need to make pauses so that you can allow them to express themselves with you.

Speak Politely

Politeness is often neglected these days. We live in a very busy world and some extreme people would even suggest that being polite is a waste of time. Pay no attention to those people since recent trends have shown that being polite is both beneficial and trendy again.

However, with children is even more important to be polite. There are numerous reasons, but two of them are crucial. First, the same way as with encouragement and positive energy. Being polite makes children safe, heard, and loved.

Still, what is even more important and people are often forgetting that “small thing”. Children imitate, and they will definitely imitate parents and teachers since they are crucial role models in children’s upbringing.

Say thank you to them when they read a recipe for you for example. Or when they read something in a store that is difficult for you to read. Make them feel included and important.

That way, they will behave in the same manner towards other people too.

Use All Of Your Active Listening Skills

To know how to listen is a huge lifehack for parents, teachers, and caretakers. Active listening is a major part of verbal communication in childcare. When your child feels listened to, they will know that you are making an effort and they will feel appreciated. Active listening means really focusing on the conversation. It makes relationships stronger and bonds tighter.

You need to know that hearing is not listening. Children, the same as people, know when you are listening to them and when you are just hearing them. In addition, make sure that you don’t interrupt them. Besides being rude, the children will feel like what they have to say is not important for you.

Repeat back to them what they said. This way they will feel satisfied and validated. Don’t worry about being wrong about their emotions. It is very important that you ask them if you don’t understand something. It will not be bad, it will mean that you are really interested in what they have to say.

All in all, when you are creating a positive environment for verbal communication in childcare you are creating a safe expression space for children. Children who feel respectfully listened to will have a better relationship with their parents, teachers, and all people in general. They will feel free and their relationships will be of high quality.