Communicating in a whole new way.

Okay, as a voracious reader this was bound to happen. Let’s get down to some Semiotics, or more simply put, the study of signs and their meanings.

All around us we find signs and symbols that represent ideas or concepts not necessarily contained in the image itself. Let’s use public restrooms as an example. When we see a little cartoon silhouette of a woman, we know the passage leads to women’s restrooms. We also know that this sign means “no men allowed”. Similarly, we know that the same cartoon silhouette, when drawn with a cartoon child in hand, indicates a “family” restroom, where parents can assist their toddlers with bathroom duties. This time, however, we know that dads are allowed, even though they’re not in the “sign”.

Now Semiotics go a lot deeper than this, but ever since Umberto Eco entered my library, I cannot help but wonder at the various meanings we connect to images and symbols. When it comes to emotional development, the concept of Semiotics can come in quite handy, even for those who feel that the Shakespeare and Dickens you were forced to read in school was more than enough.

Signs are a part of your child’s life from an early age on. Children identify a picture of an apple as a sign for the actual apple and then later they recognise the word “apple” as a sign for the same object. Now, the picture is a lot easier to remember than the academic word. So, how difficult will the “signs” for emotions be when the emotion itself is so difficult to understand in the first place.

Connecting images and experiences to ideas that are too difficult to express in their own words is a good way of communicating a problem when your child just doesn’t know how to. There’s no real fire involved in anger (except when things get a bit rough when you’re busy baking a cake – then anger does, in fact, lead to fire), but my daughter knows she’s feeling “icky” and uncomfortable sooner than she knows when she’s getting angry.

Connecting a storyline to their experience works the same. When a child doesn’t fully comprehend their experience, they might still be able to see that their physical reaction is similar to that of a character in a story. When they are able to say, “I feel like this character in this story”, you can start helping them understand and share exactly what it is they feel. Sofia the First’s storylines have helped me understand that a girl who is “just like Princess Amber” was rude to my daughter. Once you and your child know the Soetlief character’s you’ll also learn that someone who is “just like Chris” is about to blow a gasket out of anger. Simple Semiotics for playground fun.

As adults who have had plenty of years in which to learn how to share our emotions and tell the world how we feel, we still so often end up in counselling where we find the main factor that leads to our emotional distress proves to be the fact that we don’t tell people how we really feel. And then we expect our children, who are only just beginning to recognise their emotions, to do it better than we do. But using images and experiences as “signs” that lead us to the true emotions may be the first step to getting there.