No Learning? No Living!

This is the author of our final entry on chapter 3, Sara, when she was a child. Galinsky's chapter reminded her of her childhood, and I think you'll appreciate what Sara has shared. Enjoy!


Communication plays an important role in interactions, especially with children at a very young age. When I first started reading this chapter I thought it would not be interesting, but I discovered otherwise - this chapter was very interesting to read. There are a few things that I am going to mention that include the dog communicating to the owner, children coding with one another, language and literacy. Additionally, I will discuss Galinsky’s first suggestion: Create an environment at home where words, reading, and listening are important.

Some of the examples related to my childhood. For example, Galinsky states that animals can communicate. I could relate to the dog that waited until the owner would pay attention to him, and then would tell the owner what he wanted by pointing with his nose (first to the owner, then to the cabinet) when he wanted his biscuit. I have a dog and when she is hungry she will sit in the same spot in the kitchen by the cupboards and wait. During that time she gives me a pitiful look with her eyes, telling me that she is hungry (it’s more like an “I’m starving!” look). Once I feed her, she goes off and does her own thing. I just love that section and can really relate to it because I am an animal lover. Animals truly can communicate with humans in their own way.

Another part of the chapter that intrigued me was the section about a family sitting around the dinner table. There were three siblings, and they were talking in code in front of their mom. It brought back a memory of when I was a child, but instead of between siblings, it was with friends. I remember when I was in grade school and my friends and I had a code. We mainly talked in this code in school. The adults could not figure out what we were talking about, like the mother in chapter three. Prior to reading this piece in the chapter, I had forgotten about having a code as child. The more I thought about this section, the more I thought about the children of today talking in code. It makes me smile thinking about my past experience as a child, and watching today’s children doing the same.

The section about children and literacy made me think about the role of reading in developing communication skills. I feel that it is very important to read to children starting at a young age. It helps the child to learn about language and written communication. I feel that when a child is being read to or they are reading to someone else, learning occurs. Books allow children to venture out and explore new things. Children are able to learn new things such as information about a new country, the stars, dinosaurs or whatever has peaked their interest. There was this one particular child who I had in my infant classroom who loved to be read to. He would bring a book to an adult and would want us to read it to him - this would happen throughout the day. After a while, this child would memorize his favorites and he would “read” the book to us. It was great to see this child love to read and to have him help me read the book, especially the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" book. His mother would tell us that they read all the time at home.

When I was reading suggestion one, it occurred to me that I never thought of reading literature as so important until I was older. Suggestion one states that “In order to promote literacy and communication skills, we must exercise them ourselves. Children learn what they see and live” (p. 142). When I was reading to my preschool class some time ago, I would ask them about the book and what they thought might happen next in the story. Looking back, I now know I was doing the right thing, but I did not realize it at the time. “If you stop learning, you stop living” (p. 142). I really agree with this statement, because you learn new things everyday whether you realize it or not. My son just turned three years old and he is learning and discovering new things every day through reading, communicating, and interacting. Watching him learn is a wonderful experience.

I have learned some new things from this chapter about communicating with children - as well as adults. This new information will help me understand children and families better and how they communicate with one another. Reading this chapter encourages me to pay more attention to the communication I have with my own family and friends. It will not only help me, but will help me teach my son better communication through reading books, talking and listening with him.