One of the wonderful perks of teaching sign language to moms and their babies is hearing their stories. Here’s one I heard recently.
A mom came up to me after class with her precious nearly-eight-month old daughter on her hip. “I just have to tell you,” she said, “the sign for OUCH is a miracle!” I smiled and asked for details.
“My daughter is teething, and sometimes it bothers her so much she cries. So the other day it happened, and I made the sign for OUCH while I asked if she were hurting. She looked at me and the sign. Like that, she stopped crying! It was as if just knowing that I understood her, and acknowledged her pain, made all the difference.
And then a few days later, she got a fistful of my hair and was giving it a good tug. I said and signed OUCH to her, and she immediately let go. She made the connection!”
New classes are starting up this week, and I can’t wait to give more moms the signs they need to discover their own little ‘miracles.’
Here’s the sign for ouch:
