Chatter matters!
Parents and carers are a child’s first educator. Babies start to learn while they are in the mother’s womb, so it is never too early to start talking to your baby!
The more early interaction you have with your child and the more language they hear, the more they learn to listen and communicate back to you.
Responding to their needs and interests keeps your child engaged in the conversation.
Top tips:
- Name objects your child points to: this helps them to understand and connect words to the things they see
- Build up your child’s sentences: add new words, for example ‘a fast red car’
- Try not to correct your child if they get a word wrong: acknowledge their efforts and give them a chance to hear the word clearly, for example Joe says ‘og’ and Daddy says ‘yes it’s a dog’
- Give your child lots of time to respond to you: they are learning a new language and need ‘thinking time’
- Avoid asking your child too many questions: this can put them under pressure
- When out and about, try and involve your child in what you are doing: for example, ask them to help you with the shopping by finding the items for you – involving them in what you are doing keeps them busy and they will feel like they have an important job, so therefore will keep focused for longer
- When out and about, point things out to your child: there are many things to see and hear, so by pointing them out to your child they start to make connections between what they are seeing and the noise they can hear – for example, seeing a car and hearing its engine
- When out and about, try to avoid offering your child a phone or tablet: as much as this will perhaps make things easier on a busy day, it stops your child noticing the world around them which is a missed opportunity for learning and discovery
