Talking to yourself is not a bad thing. The process of talking to yourself helps your child to think, to focus, and can guide him to improve his performance.
Children help think by talking to themselves
At the beginning of their development, children's thinking skills are characterized by "social" and "emergent" qualities. At a young age, children need to rely on their parents and other adults to teach them and follow the norms set by adults in order to develop good behavior, which is called "social thinking. Because the norms of behavior come from the verbal commands of adults, when a child tries to regulate his or her own behavior, he or she will vocalize and imitate those verbal commands to help him or her practice them, which is known as "episodic thinking.
Young children must be able to use language to communicate with others, and over a long period of time, they will be able to convert this social and external thinking ability into an internalized ability to focus on their own thinking. Some studies on the phenomenon of self-talk in humans have pointed out that self-talk in young children actually plays a very positive role in the developmental process. This is because in speaking to oneself, speech helps the child to think, to concentrate, and to direct and improve his or her own performance.
When a child enters elementary school, the phenomenon of self-talk may seem to disappear with age; however, this is not the case. The phenomenon of self-talk is a gradual change from the externalized nature of the early years to the internalized and secretive nature of the early years. As we grow older and our cognitive development becomes more complete, we no longer speak our thought processes aloud, but we still experience the same thought processes internally, and the inner dialogue of the self still exists, only that outsiders are unable to observe it.
Supervise behavior with words for better performance
Regarding the phenomenon of self-talk, developmental psychologist L. Vygotsky believes that children not only use language to communicate with others, but also use language to help them plan things, guide themselves, and supervise their own behavior. In addition, studies have found that young children who talk a lot to themselves have better social development than their peers who do not talk to themselves. Witkowski explains that children's self-talk is a form of self-training that lays a good foundation for future interactions and communication with others. When a child speaks to himself, he is using language to supervise his behavior and guide his thinking. For example, when Kiki is playing with a jigsaw puzzle, she may hold a piece in her hand and say to herself, "This piece has some sky blue and some white on it, and it looks like clouds in the sky, so I should put it on top of the picture. So they talk and move at the same time; or when they play with dolls, they make up their own scripts, and their facial expressions and movements come out along with them.
Using conventional tips, children learn to behave in a disciplined manner.
Nowadays, parents often feel that many children are overly active, have poor concentration, are easily distracted, and are ineffective in their work. Experienced teachers with training in early childhood education will take advantage of the developmental characteristics of pre-school children's self-talk to turn some of life's routines into tips. For example, in order to teach children to be quiet and to learn how to pay attention, teachers sometimes design small gestures and phrases to teach children to do the following: "Whoever is quiet, I am quiet" or "Look at the blackboard with your little eyes, and keep your little ears open". When children repeat these phrases after the teacher, it helps them to practice each movement and achieve a state of concentration.
Over time, children will naturally develop the habit of using these tips to remind themselves and help them adjust their behavior. It is advisable for parents to learn the guidance methods used by teachers to improve their children's undesirable behaviors. For example, if your child is a picky eater and only wants to eat meat but not vegetables, you can teach your child this motto: "I'm a good baby, eat more vegetables, take less medicine." This encourages your child to eat more vegetables in order to maintain his or her health, so that he or she doesn't have to be afraid of taking medication when he or she is sick.
Some children's songs can also be useful. For example, The Fat King (published by Shinya) contains a story and a song, and when the child recites the song, his or her behavior will also change. For example, many parents worry that their children will be too talkative in kindergarten, or that their children will be too talkative when the teacher is teaching, so parents may want to make use of the above methods to guide their children. First, take your child on a tour of the school or rehearse a lesson with him or her; then let him or her think about whether interrupting the teacher while he or she is telling a story will interrupt the teacher's story, and then there will be no story for everyone to listen to. At the same time, teach your child that if he or she has a question for the teacher, he or she should raise his or her hand first and get the teacher's permission to speak before doing so, in order to be courteous.
After the discussion, parents can make these reminders into a mnemonic: "Raise your hand first, and speak only when called by the teacher. Encourage your child to repeat these reminders once or twice in preschool, and remind him or her to remind himself or herself. When your child has such specific behavioral rules, he will know better how to do the right thing. Listen to your child and talk to him or her in response to the situation. Once you understand the reasons for your child's self-talk and the significance of his or her development, not only can you guide your child in applying it to his or her behavioral norms, but you can also help your child not to worry if he or she talks to himself or herself. We suggest that you listen to your child and understand what he or she is thinking about, and even respond to him or her in response to the situation, talking to him or her one by one! You can even respond to your child according to the situation and talk to him one by one!
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