New research finds that for children's brain development, parents don't just need to talk to their kids — it's important to talk with them, in back-and-forth exchanges.
"What we found is, the more often parents engaged in back-and-forth conversation with their child, the stronger was the brain response in the front of the brain to language," said cognitive neuroscience professor John Gabrieli.
In a study of children between the ages of 4 and 6, they found that differences in the number of “conversational turns” between parents and preschool-aged children took - while wearing recorders - accounted for a large portion of the differences in the language skills that they found among the children.
This finding applied to children regardless of parental income or education, according to the study.
So, it isn't just about mindful chit-chat, but really conversing with our children that makes an impact on their verbal skills as they grow.
"The important thing is not just to talk to your child, but to talk with your child. It’s not just about dumping language into your child’s brain, but to actually carry on a conversation with them,” advised. Rachel Romeo, lead study author and graduate student at Harvard and MIT.
These findings tie in with a landmark study done in 1995 which found that an average, a child from a better-off, more-educated family is likely to hear 30 million more words in the first three years of life than a child from a less-well-off family, according to figures.
"[The study] strengthens a two-part message, she added. "One, we need to talk to our children from the moment they're born, and probably in utero. And two, that language needs to come out of a relationship — and that's what this study really cements. It isn't about streaming tape to a child through the course of a day with thousands and thousands of words, because those become meaningless. It's really about the relationship."
And those back-and-forth 'minor' arguments we may have with our teens as they grow up? Yes, we're assuming these also count as a form of talking.
