WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:06.400 I think it's important to give them the space to be who they want to be... 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:15.640 ...and if there are moments where they don't want to sign, to not force them, but to make it a normal thing to do. 00:00:15.730 --> 00:00:23.440 So I think you have to make sure you do keep signing, even if it is only to your partner, just for fun. 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:34.030 You shouldn't force them, I mean, children will go their own way, and if they feel more comfortable with spoken language, either always or just some of the time, that's also perfectly fine. 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:40.440 But it works both ways, if your child notices that they're more relaxed when there's sign language... 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:45.960 And you can only feel that if you feel comfortable with it yourself, of course. 00:00:46.030 --> 00:00:55.840 Parents who, against their will, with a lot of effort, don't really want to sign... then your child will always be afraid of asking you to sign. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.930 Then it remains this lop-sided thing. 00:01:01.040 --> 00:01:12.420 Yeah, look at your child, have fun, also if you don't have a language. I remember when we first started, we would show them a lot of things. 00:01:12.590 --> 00:01:23.090 Anything, when we were in a restaurant, we would try to get a look in the kitchen of... you know, show them things. And I've drawn a lot of things. 00:01:23.240 --> 00:01:26.560 Emiel would have to go the hospital, and I would draw what we were going to do. 00:01:26.600 --> 00:01:34.720 Especially when my sing language wasn't as good yet, and his speech wasn't. So I drew quite a lot, yeah. 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:40.380 Yeah, tell your kids lots of things. 00:01:40.440 --> 00:01:47.440 –The booklet about the CI, we showed that too. –Yeah, all the little steps. 00:01:47.590 --> 00:01:57.230 You know, packing your bag, going to the hospital, the scary cap you get, the syringe, or suddenly having a string on your arm. 00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:04.080 All of those things that you as a parent might consider very normal, and well, they have some booklets at the hospital as well, but those are often quite lousy. 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:11.240 Also, what's really nice is preparing those children for things. So if in advance, you... 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:16.800 That's something we also, that surgery, we've acted it out quite often. 00:02:16.880 --> 00:02:27.170 With a cardboard box, and lots of bandages, and in advance... And I'd have the little cap on my nose, that would be a washcloth. 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:37.620 Let children experience things, do things. I think that's very important. 00:02:37.690 --> 00:02:41.960 And let them play. Don't test too often. 00:02:44.930 --> 00:02:52.430 Forget about the word 'disadvantage'. Yeah. 00:02:52.610 --> 00:02:59.900 It'll just make you very unhappy, and it's also just not realistic. 00:03:00.020 --> 00:03:08.220 It's some kind of standard, but every child develops very differenlty, you know. 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:15.150 You'll never know what's going on inside those little heads anyway. Or not completely.