When a Doctor tells you to spend more Time with your Child

When we were on Gran Canary, Apra was of course very popular with everyone we met. She always talks a lot and that was no different there, even though most people understood neither Hindi nor German. She tried with those few English words she had and picked up new ones – and Spanish words – quite fast. One of those who was fascinated by this was a woman with a two-year-old nephew. Who did not speak at all. The reason she named for this was very interesting!

This boy only made noises and had very recently started saying the words for mummy and daddy, yes and no. But only after his parents had been to a doctor with him and had started following the doctor’s advice! Obviously, if your child does not speak a word even at two years old, a mother worries. She had the doctor make all necessary tests. The result: her son had no problem in the ears, he understood perfectly what one told him and his vocal chords were fine. It seemed as though he had everything that it needed for speaking. So what was it that the doctor recommended?

He simply told the woman to spend more time with her son.

Yes, he believed that this was the reason for the late speech development of this boy. Both parents went to work every day, the boy went to a play school and his grandmother or his aunt picked him up from there to spend the rest of the day together. Only in the evening and on the weekends did the family get time to be together. Due to business trips, even this time was often not spent with both parents but either with one of them or other relatives.

The fact that both, the boy’s grandmother and aunt, as well as everyone at the play school talked to the boy and encouraged him to speak didn’t really matter, said the doctor. A child needs the time with his parents! Nobody can be a better teacher, nobody can be a better role model than a mother and a father! Take out time for your child, be active with him or her, show the little one things he or she has not seen and animate your kid to talk about it!

I feel bad for the mother who had to hear this from a doctor! She probably felt guilty and very bad about it – it is never nice having someone criticize your parenting but hearing that you are practically neglecting your child while you were doing the best you thought you could is surely not pleasant! But in the end it is good that she went and that the doctor said it! It is the best for the boy!

Now this woman works less and some improvement is showing. For all of us other parents, this just makes it clear again that you have to spend quality time with your children! Be there for them yourself as much as you can! Nothing is more important than this!