My son is fourteen months old now and he has learnt his first word. He started talking in the ninth month but at that time, he was not talking properly. All he was saying is ‘da da da da…’. Hearing that, my father was really happy as he thought the first word he learnt was Dada.
Then after a few days, he started saying ‘ta ta ta ta…’ at that moment, we realised, these were not proper words. These are just initial movements of the tongue and other muscles of his mouth. Initial movements of his tongue motivated my wife and she started hitting his mind with two-letter words. In the ninth month, her friend’s daughter was saying ‘papa’ and ‘mumma’ very clearly. She thought that our son is lagging behind. Thus, she started teaching him two-letter words whenever she got the time to play with our son during the day.
My reaction
In the midst of all this, I was just happy that he started talking. I believe that the growing process of every child is different and he/she should be allowed to grow at his/her pace.
When I noticed that he is trying very hard to talk, I started teaching him through photos. There is one photo frame in our house which is within his reach. I tried to teach him words like Dada & Dadi from that frame. He started saying Dada seeing that frame and I was like mission accomplished.
After a few days I realised, he is calling the frame Dada not the person in the photo. And this came out when I showed him the passport-size photos and he didn’t recognize them.
In the first week of this month, when I returned home from work and he welcomed me with a loud ‘Papa’. I was over the moon. I hugged him and kissed him with a big smile on my face.
It was a result of constant hammering by my wife. He was repeating the word ‘papa’ after my wife. After hearing ‘papa’, I realised that every child learns a language after reading the lips and hearing the exact words constantly. Until then, they speak their own language which only they understand.
Doctor
As my son started saying papa repeatedly, I searched for the following steps to take this further. And while doing that, I came across a video of a paediatrician. From that video, I got the direction to make my son learn the language quickly.
In that video, the doctor recommended addressing the child with the name of the relationship you have with the child. For example, if my father is addressing my son then he should make eye contact and say ‘Dadu’. This process will make him speak different words.
The doctor said to start with one word and when he gets used to it move on to two words sentences and slowly move on to 3-4 words sentences. In this way, the child will learn to talk the language. He also mentioned certain age frames in which children should learn this. I didn’t take it seriously as I don’t believe in it. I only followed the advice as I found it helpful as a parent.
An Elderly lady
Yesterday, mom went on a walk with Yuvi. She was stopped by an elderly lady in the neighbourhood. She asked my mom, whether Yuvi has started speaking or not. My mom replied, “not much, he is just saying ‘papa’ and ‘dada’.
“That’s good. In the second year, children learn two-letter words. From the third year, they start speaking small sentences.” She further added to the Mom’s reply.
This conversation is an assurance to me that my son is growing at the right pace. The lady said it with the experience of raising her grandchildren.
Process
Since Yuvi has started saying papa, I have noticed one more thing; learning words for the child is a process. And in this process, the child learns those words first in which the tongue is not involved. If you go by this theory then papa and mumma are those words in which the tongue is not involved, only lips are involved. Thus, it is more likely that your child says papa or mumma as his/her first word.
Every “firsts” of our child is always special. From my experience being a mother to two multilingual kids, I can only say every child is different and they learn at their own pace. To help children in developing vocabulary, the only way is to talk to them. And not giving any childish name to anything.. When we use the actual words, kids learn that. First 5 years are the building years in every child’s life. Teach them but not to bombared them with loads of information has always been my take,
Mostly we try to find meaning to their gibberish but the magic is that whichever language you speak the child tend to say mama and papa in this language first time. Maybe it is the magic of nature.
Exactly, it is a magic.
Your post has remind me the time when my girls were young and we were eagerly waiting for them to speak their first words. I agree., each child is different and they learn to talk with their own pace.
Oh yes my elder one started with DA da and my younger one with PA pa, so both father and son were happy..haha but yes it’s a process and parent should be patient and soeak to them as normally as they can, kids will pick up words automatically.
Hearing your child’s first words is always a thrilling experience. Talk a lot to Yuvi and he’ll surely pick up more words. Takes time but it’s worth it!
Paresh I cant tell you how relatable the post is for me. My son is going to be 9 months and he is saying DA DA DA , BA BA BA, MA MA MA and all are getting happy thinking my baby is talking and calling by names.. 🙂
I know we all parents are fo curious for those first words but I tell you when they start speaking you will say thoda chup bhi bhetha Karo hehehe.
No worries till then enjoy this stage
😅🤣
I am sure the happiness you must have felt with that first word “Papa” is beyond any other satisfaction. Yes, it’s a process in the way kids speak and learns new words.
aww!! I know it’s such a beautiful feeling when your child calls you for the first time. My son started saying papa first too and Mumma much later. This is the right time you start talking to him and addressing yourself and other. Also, you may pick some picture books and start “Show and Tell” while saying their names out loud slowly and multiple times for him to start speaking nicely. Enjoy this phase!!