[blparent] Teaching 14 month old baby to come to me

[Judy Jones]

My husband and I learned something, believe it or not, at guide dog school 
when wanting a dog to come to you.

The trick is, not expecting a young child to come to you.  Instead, you can 
call the child, maybe once, and if they do not respond, go find them, and 
when you do, be very matter-of-fact about it, saying something like, "Oh! 
There you are."

What this is doing is keeping you, the parent, in control.

I have seen sighted parents call for Junior to come here, Junior doesn't 
come.  Parent asks again, Junior doesn't come.  Parent gets more irate, 
feels they have to get more forceful, then resorts to the 1, 2, 3 thing. 
Junior is really learning that he is in control, and will learn to come when 
parent has counted to 2 and 9 tenths, so to speak.

When your young one is older, you won't have any problems  with them 
responding to your request, if they never get the control of when to come or 
not when they're little.  You are teaching good habits.  Again, you go to 
them and don't give them the choice, and keep things very low key and 
matter-of-fact.

The other advantage is that if you are the one to fetch them, you always 
have the control, and this will not be a worry.

By the way, since that time in 1979 guide dog school, I married and had our 
first in 1986, our second in 1990.  I have had four guide dogs, my husband 
five, and on the occasional times the dog got out and we really did have to 
call, they did come when they heard us.  Even if they had gotten out, we 
rewarded them for coming with lots of praise and a few treats.

Best wishes, this should work for you.

Judy

-----Original Message----- 
From: Tara Briggs via blparent
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 7:22 PM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Cc: Tara Briggs
Subject: [blparent] Teaching 14 month old baby to come to me

Dear all!
My baby daughter is now 14 months old. I would love some advice on how to 
teach her to come to me.
What have you guys done that has worked well? Any mistakes I should avoid?

Thanks!
Tara

Sent from my iPhone
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