What Can You Say To A Baby?
Anything is fine! They love to hear you!
A few days after my son was born, I knew the importance of interacting with him but was clueless about what I should be talking to him about. I knew I had to start somewhere. So I started with something on these lines: “what’s your story today? Are you hungry? Do you want this toy? Look at this…and so on.” Such random conversations made me feel more connected to the baby. Over time I realized it worked the other way round too. He started to emote more in reaction to what I had to say. Gradually when it is was time for him to utter his first words, he uttered “Huggies” :)) as I probably used the word often, especially when I needed to find his “Huggies” Diaper! Lol!
What does formal research have to say in the matter?
Apparently language learning starts early. As early as the baby stage. What can a baby understand you ask? A lot as time goes by. There is a lot of research material available on the subject online. But there is a Medium story that I stumbled upon yesterday, which is what actually triggered a whole variety of thoughts and resulted in this story.
Lesley Sand in her Medium story titled Do you know which one of these girls will do better in school? throws a lot of light on the need for interaction in terms of speaking to the child as well as reading age appropriate books to children early on. She points out very effectively how proficiency in a language makes it a lot easier to learn new things that are taught in that language. It’s logic, yet many parents I know of sadly don’t know this.
Many parents I know believe that children should be allowed to take studies easy in the lower grades, as they anyway are going to work hard under pressure, once they reach high school. There are several times when I have thought about that approach and have always felt that it does not work for me. I believe that it is the other way round. If a child’s language skills are good, high school will not be hard. If fundamentals are strong learning advanced concepts should be relatively easier right?
I am no expert in child psychology or education for that matter. I am a mother who follows her instinct and hopes things turn out okay. But at times when I see other parents adopt a totally different approach compared to mine, I like to pause and think.
I must say one of the big reasons for me to constantly evaluate my approach, is my mother’s experiences as a special educator. Being a special educator she has taught children from a variety of schools and from different age groups. In many cases although the children who came to her had no disability so to speak, they were branded as poor performers in academics. The reason she found was that their basics were poor and so catching up on more complicated concepts in school was incredibly difficult. Imagine not knowing how to read and understand English but to be made to sit through Science classes or Math classes for that matter, that are taught in English! It is scary for anybody of any age.
One language or more than one language?
After I read Lesley Sand’s article, I felt the urge to share it with as many mothers I could. In particular, I had to share it with my best friend who has a four month old baby. I know she talks a lot to her baby. I knew this article would be very useful to her. So I sent it across. We chatted about it for a while and then she brought up an important point- Which language to use while talking to a child? She and her husband come from different language backgrounds. I put in the thought that English should also be in the mix.
My friend was worried that she was forcing her child to learn many languages early on.
Valid concern, I said. But then we took a step back and gave this some thought. We realized that as adults, we know that there are different languages that sound different. From a baby’s perspective any language is just a sound, maybe even exciting as it is new. Anything new is fascinating for a child. What a wonderful stage to be in! Children are so ready to learn anything new. As we grow older we lose that eagerness somewhere. Too many preconceived notions I suppose. Imagine what would be lost if nothing is given to a child who is so fresh and eager to learn, as much as she can from the environment. Such a huge motivation to grow would just be left to diminish over time. And then, all of a sudden when the child is in middle or high school, the pressure mounts to learn new and complicated concepts. How is it possible to all of a sudden learn something new when one is simply not used to learning at all?
The other extreme
Well there is another side to the coin. There are parents who want their children to scale heights even before they learn their ABC’s. They start exploring what needs to be done so that their child will enter premium universities later on in life.
The purpose of this story is not to say that children must be pushed to learn a lot of things when they are really young so that they scale heights and reach premium universities. The purpose of this story is to open a point of discussion. As a parent myself, I have enjoyed talking to my child and reading any book we can get hold of. We enjoy travelling in imaginary worlds together. I started books really early. Well it began as a way to motivate him to eat. But as time went by, I learnt with him. I could see how much it benefited him. I realized that there is so much joy in being able to understand a lot of things and to be able to read a story book and get lost together in imagination.
If you liked this post, please share it with other parents, you know. It would be nice to hear your thoughts too.
