Receptive Vocabulary

Everybody says that kids can understand a whole lot long before they start talking.

I kept wondering when that would happen.

It turns out that it happens the moment you start talking to them as though you expect them to understand.

Sunday afternoon at Claim Jumper Andy and I were marvelling at how much Autumn understands. Far, far, more than our boys do. Brian gently pointed out that we might start seeing better results if we talked to the boys with the assumption that they could understand us.

He was right. And I'm amazed.

The funny thing is, this is something I've always been very passionate about. Children are remarkably pliable creatures, and will live up to your expectations of intelligence or stupidity. I've always been convinced that it is very important to interact with your children with the assumption that they are capable of understanding a great deal.

I just had no idea it would start being an issue so soon.

You see, I have a very hard time behaving as though they are capable of understanding, when I'm not capable of understanding how they could possibly figure it out. I suppose it's time to come to grips with the fact that my children are considerably more intelligent than I am. Far less wise-- astoundingly foolish, in fact. But like most little ones, their raw capacity for learning vastly exceeds that of my fossilized 23-year-old brain.

I'm a little bit jealous, a lot amazed...

...and thrilled at the privilege.