Adult interaction with infants

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When adults come into contact with infants, the adult often changes their persona (and communicates in a way they wouldn't with other adults) in order to try to elicit a reaction from the infant, to teach them life lessons, or to physically stimulate them. They may simplify their speech to concise sentences or words for them to repeat, or speak in nonsensical phrases (known as baby talk). They may make simple movements with their finger (such as circles) on objects for them to copy, or point to brand names/logos or people in family photos to see if they identify them. They may also choose to play one of various games, many of which are old favourites (such as Where's the baby or Got your nose). While the parents or carers may or may not choose to do this on when alone with the child, when in the presence of guests the conversation tends to either divert completely to this type of interaction or at least have these forms of interaction take place as asides in the conversation. Sometimes the interaction is one-sided, with the adult taking satisfaction with their attempts, even though the infant does not react, or react without really understanding it. At other times, the interaction is two-sided, and both parties derive pleasure or other emotions from it. Some adults do not change at all when in the presence of other families' infants.

Contents

Parents and infants

An article in Science Daily suggested that "the way mothers interact with their babies in the first year of life is strongly related to how children behave later on." [1]

"No [grownup conversation or alcohol] can go down [at an adult-only party] when there are kids...Once a baby's in the mix, it's almost guaranteed that all the attention (especially [the parents']) is focused on the little one instead of the grown-up activities."

Denene Millner, Reality Check: Bringing Baby to an Adults-Only Party [2]

Sometimes when caring mothers invite guests over, they become preoccupied with their child's needs, even though the infants are disruptive to the atmosphere and attention-stealing. Alex Richards recalled a post-baby party where her "two-month-old was good for a while, but became fussier and fussier as the night progressed". [3] Sometimes, adults ignore the young children, finding them to be a nuisance or irrelevant. When this happens, they are put into playpens to fend for themselves, or left to wander the house. Amy Bowman recalls that at a dinner party, she put her 8-month-old down, and "as soon as she hit the ground, Katie 'sprinted' on all fours to the edge of the patio and pulled herself to standing on a lounge chair", rather than conversing with the adults. [4]

Games

Playing games with babies can assist with: [5]

Types of games

Babycenter.com identifies the following games for adults to play with babies. [6]

Some other games are as follows:

In Media

Baby talk

"When talking with children, it is important that the conversation arises from a genuine interest. In other words carers must want to be with children, talk with the children and find out what they are thinking. Displaying a genuine interest and enjoyment in spending time with children also shows that you value and respect them".

Jan Faulkner, Taking with Babies and Toddlers [7]

Inappropriate interaction

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. "The Way Mothers Interact With Babies in First Year Predicts Child Behavior To Age 13" . Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  2. Millner, Denene. "Reality Check: Bringing Baby to an Adults-Only Party" . Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  3. Richards, Alex (February 7, 2011). "A Post-Baby Party" . Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  4. Bowman, Amy. "Breastfeeding Past One?" . Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  5. "6 Baby Games to Play" . Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  6. "Games to play with your baby (under 12 months)" . Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  7. Adult interaction with infants. Extract from Putting Children First. 14 June 2005. pp 6–7.