Slow Down, You Move Too Fast - For Your Child

I have two issues with speed when it comes to children.
We adults may feel we have to go go go, but it is not helpful to rush or hurry a child constantly.
Rushing goes against the child's nature to calmly explore, examine, and think about things and experiences.
Forcing a child to "hurry up" all of the time can interrupt his or her thought processes and learning.
Life is meant to be savored.
Rushing and being rushed spoils the opportunity to savor life experiences.
Another developmental area that is harmed by rushing is speech-language development.
When parents talk at a fast clip to their young children as they do to adults, the child who is struggling to "crack the code" of language and/or articulation can't glean the bits and pieces needed to learn the language easily.
Have you ever listened to a native speaker of another language? As you listen to the rat-a-tat-tat of that speaker, you marvel that anyone can understand what is being said.
You have no clue where one word ends and another begins.
Your child's language detection system is attempting to learn "word boundaries" and grammar rules.
He or she can learn a lot better if you slow the pace of your speech so you can emphasize key words.
You can do this by stretching vowels in words, raising your loudness slightly on important or new words, and by using an appealing child-oriented cadence in your voice.
How much do you like to be interrupted at work or at home when you are focused on some thought, a project, or an activity? Now think how your child must feel when you make him or her leave things at a moment's notice.
Give your child some advance warning, even if he or she doesn't understand time concepts yet.
You can say things like, "Pretty soon/in a few minutes/after you finish building that tower we need to go to school.
" You can even set a timer for five or ten minutes and let your child get used to this amount of time.
Give your child a chance to finish what he or she is doing, within reason, before moving on to the next thing.
You want your child to be able to concentrate on something and to want to complete things.
People who flit about and are constantly thinking about what's next rather than what they are currently doing may develop some difficulties with attention or staying power.
Life goes too fast as it is.
Try hard not to hurry your young child.
Let your child savor experiences to learn better.