Observing Communication - Wk 3

This week, I observed a father and his children playing at the park.  His daughter was a young toddler I would say around 1 year old and son around 4 years old.  The 4 year old was interested in going onto all of the play equipment available while the daughter was mobile, was only interested in the swings. (Can you see the father’s predicament?) The father was very attentive to both children – as much as he could be.  For the daughter, he would say things like, “You want to go on the swing? Say swing” She would respond with something I couldn’t hear/understand. The son was running about climbing, sliding etc. Occasionally he would yell, “Look at me dad!” and the father would look and smile, or say “WOW!”.  Eventually both children ended up on the swings.  The son kept asking for “big Pushes” or “under dogs”. The dad would respond with, “ready – one, two, three, GO!” While pushing his daughter, he would say “ready” she would say “go”.

I noticed that the dad was very attentive and engaged. He was aware of both of his children even when they weren’t right next to each other.  He never checked his phone – I personally felt like this was a big deal! The children were responsive to him. There wasn’t a lot of conversation, but a lot of nonverbal communication and short utterances between the three of them. 

I noticed the father was talking directly to his children and really listening to the daughter. “Telling the baby what you are doing together during caregiving times is another important way to communicate” (Kovach & Da-Ros-Voseles, 2011).

I feel like for the space and separation of children, the communication was really good. The only thing I could suggest is that the father could have dug deeper with some of his responses. Maybe saying things like, ___ likes to swing! ___ How high do you want to go? Was that high enough? What could you do to get higher? “Questions that promote children's thinking require children to think beyond one-word responses to make connections, compare, and hypothesize” (Rainer Dangei & Durden, 2010).

When reflecting on how the communication could have affected the children’s feelings, the dad was very in tune to the younger child and validated her babbles, points, giggles. The older child could have been validated more with things like – look how high you climbed! I am so proud of you!

I definitely learned that I need to slow down, step back and really listen to what children are saying.  If I do this, then my responses won’t be the short one-word utterances and I can really take an opportunity to value what the children are saying. I feel like I do get overloaded with the day-to-day with my children and the children I teach during the school year and it is so easy to be passive and ignore things.  “As teachers we need to question our language in terms of the context it provides for children's thinking” (Rainer Dangei & Durden, 2010).

 

Kovach, B., & Da Ros-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with babies. YC: Young Children, 66(2), 48-50. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=60001533&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Rainer Dangei, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=47964033&site=ehost-live&scope=site