I could not be more excited to share this post with you today. It has the distinction of being the first guest post on Read. Eat. Repeat. and comes from friend and fellow blogger Kelly, who is a speech pathologist and mother, and thus qualified to teach us about early language and literacy. Click here to check out her boy mom life blog, OohBother.
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Responsibility.
That’s parenting in a nutshell, isn’t it? I mean, once you pop out a kid, is there anything that we moms are not responsible for?
From taking charge of the cleanliness of each orifice to ensuring unruly cowlicks are tamed before being seen by the masses, we do it all. And that includes all the late-night, Google-searching, mind-racing worrying over our children’s health and development.
Lucky us.
But take heart dear friends, because I am here to take one big, honking worry off your plate. When it comes to helping your little one develop his or her language skills, I bet that you are doing a ton of things right already! You smart cookie, you.
So let’s knock this out shall we, because I’m like 99% sure you have a butt to wipe or some coffee sitting somewhere in your house that you’re dying to get back to – and yes I realize that mentioning coffee and poop in the same sentence might be a turn off for some, but motherhood isn’t for the faint of stomach, so let’s move on.
Children begin developing speech and language skills from birth. From their first little grunts and cries that signal hunger, discomfort or a dirty diaper (is that my third poop reference already? This may be a new record) your little one is learning that language has power and if they create a message – someone will answer it. This is why it is so important to foster reciprocal communication with your bambino right away.
He cries. You offer a soothing, “Mommy’s here. We’re walking through the kitchen to get your paccy.”
He grunts. You offer a silly, “Oh man, that diaper must be getting full! I’m going to change you.”
He coos. You expand. “You like that silly face Daddy made. Do it again Daddy!”
And as your little one gets older and begins offering babbles (around 6months), words (around 12 months) and phrases (around 2 years)– you can respond in the same ways. Expanding on their language and offering them opportunities to grow by observing your slightly-more-advanced-language model.
Like I said, you’re probably doing a lot of these things already.
One of my favorite things to suggest to parents in terms of language development from birth is reading together. While it may feel a little strange to read a book to a child who can’t even hold his own head up, this is a great activity to not only encourage language and later – literacy skills for your little one. Of course, it’s not necessary to read a story word-for-word (because truly, once your child memorizes a story one way, you know they aren’t going to let you skip a single page!) simply talk about the things you see on the page.
I see a blue bird! He’s flying in the sky.
Show me the kitty! I love cats. They are soft.
Look at that car go! It’s driving fast.
Simple, sturdy board books are great for this type of early reading and exposure to the rhythm of language. I especially like to recommend books that have a repeating theme or are broken into pages by category. A few of my favorite are:
Pat the Bunny
(not the sturdiest, but I love all the descriptive language in this one!)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?
These books are a great place to start when introducing your child to language, literacy and the big, wide world of reading. Begin by making reading time part of your daily routine together. You won’t believe how quickly your kiddo will start showing you which books have become favorites!
The most important thing to remember when you’re working on fostering early language and literacy is that every child develops at a different pace. If you have concerns that your child is not responding to language in a way you would expect, reach out to your pediatrician or a speech language pathologist in your area, to chat about specific ideas that may help your little one blossom.
Big fan of reading here in our home. Was reading to the babies before they were born. All my kids love to read. My oldest grandson is only 6 and is reading at a second grade level.
That’s fabulous! Reading is such a simple way to make a huge difference in a child’s development.
I loved reading to my girls when they were little. My oldest daughter’s favorite book was Moe Monster.
Love this and love how timeless those books are. I remember reading every single one of them to my nephews and nieces when they were babies and the eldest is now 19. They still hold up today!
Perennial favorites are wonderful. So many great memories that you get to pass on to your own kids!
So insightful! Great parenting tips
Kelly is the best for encouraging moms!
I remember many of these books from my childhood! Can’t wait to share them with little ones.
Oldies but goodies!
We are very big on promoting early literacy in our house. Our kids have a seriously impressive library. Haha Love your book choices and tips! You’re spot on about kids developing at their own pace. Our daughter just turned two and you’d think she was older, but our son took more time.
I never really bought into the ‘every kid is different’ thing until I had my second. I’m a believer now!
I love this! You picked some of my favorite kid titles. I am a huge book lover and actually have a few book giveaways planned for my blog this month (one actually going on now). As a teacher, and an aunt, I think fostering a love for literacy is soooo important for littles!! Love this post!!
Thanks! Good luck with your giveaways, that’s so exciting!
Such great insight! We love reading and have been reading with our girls since they were babies. They love to read now!
I really think it’s a preference that can be taught, and I’m so glad because reading has so many benefits!
Some of my favorite memories were of my mom reading to my sister and me at night. It was always so special!
That’s a great memory! I remember my mom reading to me and my sisters a lot too.
Love these books. The bear one is a popular one around here for pre-schoolers for sure!
For sure!
I totally talked my kids to death and now they love reading and talk my ears off. Loving every minute of it, and then, when they sleep of course.
Of course! Lol
As a bookworm myself I really hope to be raising a baby bookworm! Our bedtime routine consists of two stories and I find it not only engages my little girl but settles her too. It helps us bond and build our close relationship at the same time as teaching her through books! #WanderingWednesday
Reading is so great for kids and you are so right that everyone developed at a different speed. I’ve met little ones who love books at younger ages than others. I definately notice the more I sit down to read to my preschoolers the more they request books and look at them on their own. Great post, thanks!
Thanks! I think reading as a family is helpful because I know my 3 year old will listen to books that are more geared to my 5 year old, and I think it’s good for her.
I have an addiction to buying books, therefore my kids always seem to have a book within a foot of them in our home. I feel like it fosters a love of reading and helps them identify new things. Great post!
Thanks for joining #WanderingWednesday!
I think I have that same addiction 🙂
Thanks for writing this great post! It’s all such common-sense basics, but still, it’s easy to forget when we’re in the thick of things sometimes as parents. This is more or less what we did with our kids, and they are way ahead of the curve in their reading now that they’re school-age – in fact, it’s all we can do to get them to NOT read every spare minute they have! #wanderingwednesday
Thanks! My parents used to get frustrated with me when I was a kid because all I wanted to do was read lol