Baby Signs Can Help Keep Kids Safe

LCCAA’s Early Head Start has introduced the Baby Signs program this year. Signs can help keep children safe and healthy. Some examples were recently shared in the program’s “At Home” newsletter.

Signs for “hot” or “hurt” can help even the youngest child communicate about illnesses or injuries or avoid accidents.

Signs and Safety—Stop, Look, and Listen! Signs can help keep children safe and healthy. Here are some examples:

Safety signs can help babies tell you when they are sick. For example, the sign for hot can indicate a fever. In addition, the sign for hurt made next to the ear can indicate an earache or made near the stomach can indicate a belly ache.

Safety also has to do with helping avoid accidents. For example, the sign hot can be used by babies to indicate that their food or their bath water is too hot. And the sign for dirty can add emphasis when children are warned against eating or playing with unsanitary things.

When you use the sign gentle, it can help calm your child’s fear during temperature taking, wound cleaning, or bandage application. And then, when your child is familiar enough with gentle to use it on her own, she can tell you when you need to treat her a bit more tenderly.