Even Babies Need Acknowledgements
The very same basics that are used with adults to communicate with other adults absolutely apply to babies as well, a fantastic example of such L. Ron Hubbard singles out in a December 1954 talk on communication, where he says:
“Kids, kids that come around and they say — I have noticed this with parents. . . . kids will come around and they’ll say,’Jabber-jabber-wog-wog-yag-yem-gillilyogo-wabble.’
And you say, ‘My golly is that so?’
And they will say, ‘Yboggle-yoggle-jobber-jobber-wobble-wob.’
And you say, ‘Holy cats, no!’
And they say, ‘Jobber-jobber-wobble-wobble-wobble-wobble-jabber-jabber-jabber.’
And well, I say, ‘Well, okay, if that’s the way it is’ and walk off. They’re perfectly satisfied.
And I have been watching people around kids and the kid says ‘Jabber-jabber-woggle-woggle’ and the person pays no attention to them, what they are saying, so the kid then starts getting on a stuck flow.
…They get frantic! And parents wonder why these kids have got to climb all over them all the time and mess up the furniture and spoil everything and knock everything down and so on, when it is obviously just as you’ve said; it’s a thirst, a craving for acknowledgment or originated communication.
If you don’t want any trouble from a kid, for God sakes always say ‘Hello’ when you see him. ‘How are you?’” — LRH (from lecture “One-Way Flows in Processing” from the 9th American Advanced Clinical Course – available here.)
It’s something I’ve noticed all too often with my kids, starting from an EXTREMELY young age. They grunt, smile, smack their chops, etc – it’s a COMMUNICATION. And you have to treat it like such, or they get upset. Don’t treat them like they’re just jabbering and aren’t really saying anything.
If you haven’t already seen it, I’d highly recommend this video below from the Scientology Volunteer Ministers course on Communication. It’s a free on-line course on communication basics, and I think you’ll be shocked how many of these basics apply to your baby just as much as they apply to your spouse!
Love it. Good reminders. I am off to give mine one now!
I love this article!!! It is so true, and we have always validated my daughter’s communication and given her good acks, etc. My daughter is a super in comm and theta person, and she communicates perfectly! Babies are so smart, and some people just don’t get that…
Yep, very true about the acknowledgments. It reminds me of a time when my daughter and I were babysitting for a five-month-old baby, and he got himself all worked up, crying and carrying on. We checked all the baby basics — food, diaper, everything, and all was normal. So finally I just gave him a locational — lots of ARC, lots of good acks. It became quite amusing, because he would stop screaming just long enough to carry out the command, then wind up again. His wailing pretty quickly died down, though, and in five minutes that kid was sound asleep. It was marvelous.
Very nice point. This one piece of information, properly applied, makes life soooooo much more calm for everyone.
This is so cool! And SO important! As there are so many different methods now, and some even tell you to just Let you baby cry! So, I think this really handles some basic questions for me! 😉
Thank you!