Pretentious Much

Last night I was talking to a mother who used baby sign language with her children. Apparently the way of communicating can be accomplished before the first year of life. Can you imagine being able to communicate with your child other than the type of cry or temper tantrum given? The conversation got me thinking and so I have been researching the subject.

The are several 'how to' books and dvd's with flash cards to help in the process. If all goes well then the first sign should be mastered by 7 months. The signs are not complicated communication but very simple: sleep, eat, change (for diaper), milk, hold, and a few others.

The book I am looking into bases it's teaching on the American Sign Language so technically the child would be learning a second language.... really it would be the first language.

So now the question is, is it worth it to teach this or is it just some pretentious worthless thing to do? We have all seen the scenes in Meet the Fockers where little Jack signs for milk by squeezing his hands like he's milking a cow. I remember how ridiculous I thought it was for him to be doing this but now I am kinda curious!!

Also I run the risk of the first word being A##... hole.... check out the video clip below. I really can see this happening to Belle if I go forward with the sign language! 

All in all if I do decide to teach her sign language it would only be to ease the communication between her and the rest of the world. Trust me, I will not make Nate wear a breast to feed her to prevent nipple confusion! Plus, who is to say that I will even have the time to teach her or the energy. I still have 6 months to think about this and I am sure that Nate will have some input about the situation. Maybe I will make the decision after she gets here but the idea is floating around now to be honest.

Tchau,

Sara