Books, magazines, and
talk show hosts all bombard parents with advice on how best to raise their
children. But there is simply no substitute for a caring adult who spends
quality time with a child.
Children pick up language
skills and knowledge about the world around them during interesting
conversations with responsible adults in their lives.
In daily life, parents
can help by pointing out and reading printed words that appear in a child’s
environment — signs on storefronts, labels on jars, and titles of television shows.
Even toddlers can share
in making grocery lists and checking them off at the store as each item is
found.
Above all, talk to your
child whenever possible. There is no substitute for a focused, interactive
conversation between children and trusted adults.
Parents can sing songs
and tell stories whenever the opportunity arises. The rhythms and sounds of
language fascinate children and lead to future learning.
That’s why children love
nursery rhymes, though the actual words can seem to make little sense to
adults.
It’s the sounds of the
language and the word-play that children find so appealing, and it gets
imbedded in their consciousness. In a very real sense, language is like music
to a child’s ears.
