When Does Baby Literacy Begin?
Early literacy begins in utero! Parents should be encouraged to start while their baby is in the womb. Language skills are developing, while they are in the womb, listening to Mommy speak. The amount of neuron connections that take place in the brain of a baby is incredible. A Baby’s brain begins to form just 3 weeks after conception and by the time they are born, they have 100 billion neurons making connections in their brain. That is literally as many stars there are in our galaxy! Amazing!
Don’t think for one minute that just because a baby is in utero or a newbie, they are not learning language, this is quite the opposite of what research studies show. Language development starts in utero. Even if a Parent was unable to read to their Baby while in utero, it is never too late to begin!
What Are the Benefits of Reading to Babies?
Larger Vocabulary – The more words your baby is exposed to, the more they will use them when they begin to talk. They will have more to say and to talk about!
Comfort – When you hold your baby to talk, they will make an association of comfort, which is also a positive, emotional connection!
Self Esteem – By having a fluency in language development, you will have a child that will have no problem, getting in front of an audience to speak and share their ideas aloud!
Pragmatics – Your baby will learn how things are said, by learning from your facial expressions, body language, eye contact, tone of voice, etc.
Develops Personality – By learning how to read body language and voice tones and pitches, you will teach your baby how to have some spunk in their communication.
Self-Regulation – There is nothing better for a restless toddler, than to have a parent read to them, to help them calm down. The same applies for infants.
Security – By reading, you are slowing life down and 100% of your attention is for your child. You are establishing a HUGE sense of security that tells them, this is “us” time and it is very special to a child.
Listening Skills – This will enable a child to learn when it is the appropriate time to listen and actually get pleasure out of it!
Mimicking – Reading helps a child to imitate whomever reads to them, whether it’s is hyper Grannie or serious Daddy. They will learn to use their skills through the voice of another.
Forming A Strong Bond – Reading helps your child grow to listen and respect you more in the future, it is a foundational must!
Choices of Books
I had the opportunity to work with Chinese families and learned that in many provinces of China, there are libraries, but only having books for adults, not for children. The worst part of it is that those libraries were not free, there was an annual membership fee, due to the population. We are so blessed to have free libraries here, so dive in!
Hard Cardboard Books – Great for infants to learn how to turn a page.
Plastic Books – These are great for bath time because they are water proof.
Laminated Books – Use some favorite pictures of baby and your family and laminate them. Create your own book that will be familiar to your baby, from the get go!
Books of Different Sizes – Get your baby used to small books and have the books grow in size as your child grows. I absolutely love the extra large books for toddlers! These Giant books are a must have for your toddler library.
Palpable Books – Begin with the touchy feely books that introduce a baby to textures of various kinds. This will tickle their sensory skills and are always so cute!
Flip Books – These have to be one of my personal favorites with my kids. It keeps their curiosity at a high and they always enjoy being surprised to find out what is under that tab, after its flipped!
E-Books – Although screen time should be limited, E-Books can also be great because they offer hand-eye coordination by having a child learn how to swipe (instead of turning a page) to a book. Read-to-Me books also offer many different sound effects and noises that a parent might not be able to accommodate for!
Nursery Rhyme Books – Not only will your baby learn how to read, but will also enjoy learning the art of rhyming, by using pitch and tone to improve their language development with song too.
So there you have it! There are endless positive reasons why literacy should be a part of your child’s life. A “read-to” baby grows up into a smart child, for sure, so invest in your child’s language development and know that there are so many other benefits that you and your child will reap from.
