The Preschooler

Jabber Dabber

My preschooler loves to talk gibberish.  He goes into this mode of communication whenever he gets really excited or if he just feels like being silly.  At first, I fought this type of talking tooth and nail.  However, once I realized he was able to stop this baby-talk on command, I stopped worrying about it and, instead, used it as a tool for learning.  (Although we do limit his use of this self-created language and require “big kid talking” in most situations.)

My son also enjoys trying to make rhymes because that is what he has seen his older brother doing on many occasions.  Unfortunately, my younger son’s rhymes were not typically correct.  He loves to ask questions such as, “Do ‘pig’ and ‘pig’ rhyme?”  (My husband and I will then dispute whether or not using the same word qualified as a rhyme.)

Recently, I decided to make a silly game out of the nonsense words in order to help him make two different words that rhyme.  I’ll ask my son something such as, “Do you think ‘choot’ and ‘groot’ rhyme?”  He’ll answer “yes” or “no”, and he is most often correct, and then he will try to come up with a pair of made-up words of his own.  He has fun with it because he gets to use his goofy language, and I enjoy it because I know he is learning!

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Written by Laura on May 13, 2011