After my baby was born, as many first time mums probably do, I began to think about everything I was doing and how it could affect my baby.
One of the things that I contemplated on a lot, was what I was saying to him and how the words would impact him. Both as a baby and later in life.
I am not sure how many of you have thought about our language, especially the English language and the connotations of many of the words we say daily, but it is very interesting when you start to delve into it.
Words are so ingrained in us that we don't often consider the origins of them and the impact they have on us.
When I began to look at all of the words we say, when we say them, the emphasis we place on them, I started to see some patterning.
Our language patterns are tied to our emotions and emotional experiences. Words are 'labels' that we give to experiences, good or bad. Each label gives a different interpretation of an experience and therefore a specific kind of feeling. Therefore how we feel at any given time is completely influenced by the words we use and can distort our experience of reality.
We often learn our responses to words when we are children, sometimes before we can even speak ourselves. Kids watch and listen constantly. Observing the responses of others can shape their own understandings of events and cause them to label things a certain way. Which if the circumstances would have been different, may have lead to a different label.
Something else to consider about words is the meaning behind the meaning. We consider bless you for example, to be a nice thing to say when someone sneezes. That it means we are offering a person a blessing.
It is a phrase that is so commonly used that its origin and meaning have mostly been forgotten.
There are a few theories of its meaning, which all stem from religious origin. One of them being that some people thought you could sneeze out your soul so saying “bless you” offered some protection. Another line of thought was that the devil could steal someone’s soul when they sneezed while others feared that evil spirits used these moments to rush into the body.
Many of the words we use stem from religion, which is fine if you are religious, but a little futile if you are not. If we don't follow religion then maybe it is time to change the words we use so that they actually have some meaning to us personally.
Words are so important. They not only alter our state of mind, they also are capable of changing the course of our entire life.
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They influence our thoughts, beliefs, choices, actions, attitudes and behaviours just to name a few.
It is therefore so important that we try to change our vocabulary to one that is more positive and in line with how we want to live and how we want to set our children up to live.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post.
Please feel free to leave me a comment or question and I will try to interact with them all
Hugs
Kylie
References
http://blog.iqmatrix.com/language-patterns
https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/1158748/this-is-the-real-reason-we-say-bless-you-when-someone-sneezes-and-its-not-because-of-the-plague/
Great post. Words are indeed very powerful. The words we choose to speak deeply shape our thoughts, which impact our actions. I've changed a lot in my life by choosing to speak more positive and affirming things about myself and my future. As the ancient Hebrew proverb says, "Life and death is in the power of the tongue..."
Thanks @jasonstaggers. That is a great proverb and a great motto to live by. It is not until we become aware of what and how we speak that we realise just what impact words can have
This is something that I have so greatly contemplated since becoming a mom. I have changed how I speak about and approach things because I know how they are listening. I can here my voice reflected in my two year old. Most of the time I'm please at the reflection that comes back at me, but sometimes I hear something (and I know it came from me) and I'm like ohhhh...I need to change that!!
Ha ha so true @thesimplelife. I often hear myself in my son too. They teach us just as much, if not more then we teach them I' m sure.
Great post, kids are so literal with words we use, and slang makes it interesting :) I grew up always being corrected with my speech from my mother, and find myself doing the same with my kiddies.. And I never used baby talk. Actually my kids often surprise me with the 'big' words they use, and in context, but I have never curbed my speech with them, or dumbed it down so to speak..(I am an avid reader and wanna be writer though)
Using your example of speech needing to adapt with 'bless you', I myself stopped using that many years ago, when I stopped going to church :)
But we haven't gotten to one point and stopped evolving though, so no wonder our speech does as well :) These days we are Pregnant, as apposed to With Child :) another example...
Thanks @dardi. Yes we have done the same and have not spoken baby talk at all either. Kids are not silly just because they don't know how to speak. I believe that baby talk actually slows their speech development too
I agree with you..it does. My friend and I had babies 3 months apart, she spoke baby talk, I didn't. And my child spoke better sooner..
Were r oo? was Where are you? Amongst many more...She is now 15 and fine, but was slower to speak properly.