Your baby is probably just getting to the stage where he “gets stuff.” You show him how to throw a ball, and he throws it. You show him how to play peek-a-boo, and he laughs and hides. Someone shows him how to scream at the top of his lungs, and unfortunately, he follows suit.

Now is the perfect time to start teaching him how to recognize family members. It’s very easy to do, and you don’t need the family member to do it. So you can teach your little one his wily tricks in secret, and then bust them out at the next get-together and steal the show.

What You Need

A picture of the person and some patience. When you’ve got your baby settled down or you’re reading him a story, pull out a picture frame or two. Point at the person and say who they are. Grandma, grandpa, etc. Even if they don’t get it exactly right, say “good job” and pronounce it right for them. They won’t get confused because you’re reinforcing the association, not the pronounciation. That’ll come with practice. For instance, my son says something that sounds like “Kaka” for grandpa, but he says it everytime he sees him.

At my son’s first birthday party, my Mom had lots of pictures of our family out. Since my son loves people, he made beelines for the pictures and pointed at people saying “dada” and “grandpa.” It’s a real crowd-pleaser and it’s good for their visual memory too.