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Health & Fitness

Talk to your kids!

The Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington recently shared an article via their Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/ECCSouthington)  The article talks about the first 5 years of children’s brain development being the most crucial as it relates to their future success.  The power of spoken language, and using language to interact with your children is essential! 

The author writes, “The initiative [Too Small to Fail] focuses on educating parents that the most impactful thing they can do for language development is the most obvious: talking to your kids.

“Children build their vocabulary by listening to and interacting with their moms, dads, grandparents and caregivers. Just as a healthy diet and physical activity help toddlers grow, reading and talking to them helps their brains develop and builds language skills that form the foundation for learning the rest of their lives.”

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“The more words a child hears from caring adults between birth and age 5, the better he or she will learn over a lifetime. However, these words need to be delivered in face-to-face interactions. Passive listening — watching videos or having the TV on in the background — does not show a positive association with language development.” 

 

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To learn more about Too Small To Fail, visit http://toosmall.org

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