This may be startling advice for some, but there are a lot of Moms out there who will agree one hundred percent with the idea that the word no is not something you magically start to use when your child develops their language skills. In fact, you begin teaching the word no along with social interaction skills.
We start when they are just tiny newborns. When a baby starts crying while you are changing their diaper, we may murmur something as simple as “now, now – none of that – Mommy is here, I’ll fix it.”
Those murmurs become a bit louder as baby learns to hold his or her head up and starts reaching for things they are not supposed to have. “No, sir.” Or “No, ma’am.” We admonish them, there is often a tinge of amusement in our voices, but the admonishment stands.
By the age of six months and their increased mobility, we are using the word no more and more often. The majority of babies who have experienced the word no by this young age – know exactly what no means. No is more than just the letters N and O. In fact, no is a teaching tool and it’s one of the first real commands our babies understand because we use it so frequently.
No is a Safety Check
When we use the word No, we are not using it to be mean. We are using it to teach our baby and to provide them with a safety net – specifically to help prevent accidents and injuries. Our babies have to learn to listen to us even while the world seems much more interesting.
By the age of 9 months, most moms can say no to their son or daughter and redirect them from their course of action. For example, when my nephew reaches for my free weights, we can tell him ‘no sir’ and he will look at us, look at the weights and you can actually see the weighing in his mind is doing. Does he listen to us or does he reach for the weights?
9 times out of 10, he will abandon the weights or whatever he was reaching for to set off in another direction. This is the great thing about the word no, even before they are communicating in the same language we do. It’s very important for them to understand the word, it protects them and it provides us with some measure of control. Control is good – because very little about babyhood can you control, but having some in place helps everyone out.
How does your baby respond to the word no?