A story and a cuddle? Now you’re talking

Our new Education Secretary Damian Hinds is right to be worried that so many children starting primary school cannot string a full sentence together. Because research shows that children with a poor vocabulary at five are more than twice as likely to be unemployed at 34 as other kids. He says the “home learning environment” is key to improving standards. He’s not wrong. Although good, cheap, wellfunded nurseries and wellstocked and staffed local libraries – resources that have been squeezed almost to extinction – are important as well. But we do need to encourage parents to put down their phones and talk to their children from the day they come home from the maternity unit.

It’s important to keep the chat going – whether changing a nappy, waiting for a bus or watching TV. Talk to kids about what’s going on and keep asking them questions. It really works.

My favourite way to boost my kids’ language skills is to read to them.

At seven and 10 they’re perfectly capable of reading by themselves now but I won’t give up our bedtime stories just yet.

Snuggling up together with a favourite book is the best feeling in the world.

I’ll probably try to keep it going till they leave for university.

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