Learning from my Family
Acquiring family values

When babies are small, their knowledge of family values comes from the way parents treat them and other family members. If your family values include sharing, communicating, and respect, then those values will be in your baby’s environment. If family members use the language for those values in ways that your baby can see or hear, then that language will be in the environment as well. Any spiritual values your family has also will be accessible to your baby.

Most formal teaching about values comes later in your baby’s life, but now is a good time to think about it. If you have chosen signed communication for your family, are you learning the signs for sharing, negotiating and showing respect? Can you explain why you behave and believe the way you do in a way that a child can understand? Whatever your communication mode, have you thought about how you would communicate about values to a child with normal hearing, and how to communicate the same information to your baby with hearing loss? You would be surprised at how early children begin to notice family values and benefit from simple language about them.