I am in a language development class at BYU. Today I gave a presentation on increasing language input with young kiddos. Talking to your kids is good for them in all sorts of ways listed in my text book but I like practical applications and they didn’t list any. So here is what I found.

Infants 0-1: Spend TIME face to face. Imitate their babbling/ Take turns. Sing songs.

Toddlers 1-3: Practice turn taking. Ask open ended questions. Don’t correct grammar. Expand on what they say. Describe everything.

My two cents:

Children learn to communicate (and a host of other things) by our being engaged with them. It is so easy for me to busily wash dishes while Eden and Alden are occupied eating breakfast. BUT rather than just acting upon them I can treat them like active participants. I cannot be supermom and sit down and play all day with my kids. I can however make an effort to eat with them, indulge in night time rituals of bathing and story time, and use parenthood has the perfect (and legitimate) excuse to think out loud and talk to myself to the level of crazy.

I have always talked a lot with Eden but I have noticed that our little interactions overshadow those between Alden and I. over the last week or so I have already enjoyed the effects of being more engaged with Alden.