SIGNING, SENSORY OVERLOAD and SLOWING DOWN...
Part 2 - Gorgeous Sophie signs Cuddle.

Signs for Christmas that meet your tot's immediate needs.

We don’t know why, exactly, Sophie was signing - but we can take a guess.

Perhaps Sophie needed reassurance?

You can see that she is in a busy cafe environment (which perhaps she doesn’t know well) and that its quite loud with lots of sounds that she will be trying to process. Sophie can’t see everything or everyone who is making a sound either and this can be quite stressful for little ones.

If you look carefully at the beginning of the video, the first thing she does is put her hands to her ears.

Perhaps she wanted attention?

Sophie probably knows that signing gets her Mummy’s immediate attention directed towards her. Perhaps Mummy had been chatting to someone else and Sophie wanted to be a part of that?

Perhaps Mummy needed a cuddle?

Our small folk are so observant and they model / copy our mannerisms and behaviour from an early age. If a little one, who is sad or nervous or scared has been met with a cuddle and reassurance, they will seek to do this themselves too. And Sophie can’t get out of her highchair to give Mummy a cuddle so she gets Mummy to come to her.

Regardless of why she signed cuddle, you can see how incredibly connecting this moment is and the understanding between Sophie and her Mummy.

Supporting children to be heard, to have a voice, to give reassurance just DOESN'T have to be hard. Look how easy it is for Sophie's mama to give her the right reassurance, when she needed it. Look at Sophie's smile, her complete trust that she can be understood.

You CAN get to the root cause of most distress and upset this Christmas - really simply, 9/10 before the stress of the situation causes tears and meltdown.

The solution is literally at your fingertips.

Love
Shelley x

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