Lifestyle Baby talk

STUDIES have shown that how much you talk to your children in their first three years can affect how fast their vocabularies grow and their level of intelligence.

WHENmy daughter was a baby, I would always walk into the room and greet her with a cheerful ‘‘hello’’.

I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it did come as a bit of a surprise when the first word she came out with was ‘‘hello’’.

As a new mum, it made me all too aware of the power of simply talking to your children— no matter how young they are— and to never underestimate how much of your talk they are soaking up.

Best of all, little kids love hearing their parent’s voice and never get sick of you chatting away to them.

Studies have shown that how much you talk to your children in their first three years can affect how fast their vocabularies grow and their level of intelligence.

According to the Raising Children Network website, talking to your baby or toddler throughout the day helps them develop a wider range of words, and assists them to understand the meaning of words, how grammar works and how to talk about things in the past or present tense.

The website quotes a study of 45 families conducted by the Talaris Research Institute in the US. It showed that children from the most talkative families were exposed to nearly 30 million words in their first three years, whereas those from the least talkative families might have heard 10 million.

As a result, the children in the more talkative families generally developed better conversational skills and a knowledge of words.

The researchers identified some positive strategies parents used when interacting with their children. These included: JUST talk. Use everyday events such as folding laundry, changing nappies or doing the dishes. Talk enough to keep the child co-operative and engaged. This works well with younger children learning their first words. LISTEN. When children talk, even if it’s silly or hard to understand, use it as a chance to add information, encourage more talking, or to elaborate on what they said. For example: ‘‘You’re talking about the little bird? Look at his pointy beak. What colour is his beak? He can fly high in the air.’’ BE nice. Kids need our guidance to learn what’sOKto do. When they do something they shouldn’t, suggest a better or right way to do it. Avoid negative criticism. For example, a parent could say, ‘‘we write on paper, not on the walls’’, instead of, ‘‘don’t do that!’’ GIVE choices. Whether trying to get a child to do something such as pick up toys or teaching them to use a spoon or fork, choices are important. Give choices that are real. Do you want to eat your peas or your rice first? Do you want the blue or the green cup? TALK some more. It’s a big new world for kids, so help them by pointing out interesting things such as, ‘‘look at the yellow bird in the sky’’, or, ‘‘that reminds me of the story grandma told us about’’.

For more advice on the benefits of talking with your children, visit raisingchildren.net.au.