Value Bookshop's Reading Notes

THE REFERENCE:
‘Parents spend more time watching TV than talking to their children’
That is the headline of an article featured in the Daily Mail. There is concern that our lack of “talk time” between parent-child is hurting our children’s language development. Here are two sentences from that article that I would like to highlight:

1. Scientific studies have shown that talking to children, especially under-fives, is crucial for brain development.
2. …busy parents could incorporate chats with their children into their daily routines, for example by asking questions about television programmes or unpacking shopping bags together….”We are saying to parents they can build conversation into all their routine activities with children.”

MY THOUGHTS:
How many things can you say to a 1 month old baby? Some of us are natural talkers. Unfortunately for my baby, I am not one of them. However, I know it is important to talk to my baby so I make the extra effort. Of course I frequently run out of things to say. This is where I start singing or humming. My 5 and 3 year old do a better job talking to the baby than me. Hahaha. Really, they do. My girl just talks and talks, even if it’s just silly talk. I do try my best to do what other’s have suggested and that is give a running commentary of what I’m doing. So if you have a baby that is still expressionless, I understand the difficulty in keeping up the conversations.
When our children are young and can’t talk yet, we can’t wait to hear them say their first word, first sentence etc…. Eventually they become fluent talkers and maybe become like my children… non-stop talkers. Then you constantly seek for the rare quiet moments. I think this is the time I start to unconsciously tune out my children. Their yakking is transformed into background noise. Because they are already talking so much, the idea of encouraging them to talk more seems insane. Maybe this is also one reason why a parent would rather watch television or do house chores instead of holding conversations with their children. Of course, this is NOT a good excuse.
This article is indeed a good reminder for me. I don’t watch a lot of television but I realize that my conversations with my children should be more than lectures and reprimands. I need to put in more effort into making ‘real’ conversation. What to talk about? Here is a link to 100 Questions To Ask Your Kids.

Here are two more helpful articles:
1. The Reluctant Talker: Getting Your Toddler to Open Up
By Mindy Hudon, M.S., CCC-SLP

2. Toddler Talk
Simple strategies to boost your child’s language skills.
By Ginny Graves

Happy talking everyone!