At our house, we are very deliberate about toddler speech and language. Right from the very beginning, we have decided to talk to Ace with regular words rather than use baby talk. It was bottle, instead of bah-bah. Water instead of wah-wah. And Auntie instead of Tee-Tee.
We never wanted to talk down to Ace and have always tried to call things by their correct name and explain them even if it meant using a big word or difficult concept. He may not get it right then, but at least the seed has been planted and we can refer back to it later on. And we’ve been surprised on many occasions when he used the word later on in the right context!
We also read to him. A lot. Usually a couple books a day. And he’s even gotten to the point where he likes for us to read random texts he sees while we’re out.
Ace is not in school yet, so we don’t really know how he’s doing compared to the expected baseline, but we’re more than pleased with his progress so far. He’s inquisitive, tries to understand things and when he says something we can’t understand, he does his best to explain another way.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how is early vocabulary and development could ultimately shape his future. I’m by no means an expert on the matter. I’m just doing what feels right to me.
Recently, I ran across this Freakonomics podcast episode, “Does Early Education Come Way too Late?”. Not to seem like I’m tooting my own horn here, but I’m actually relieved to see that some of the findings discussed reinforce our toddler speech and language practices.
Have a listen or read the transcript and let me know what you think. Am I overthinking all of this, or is cultivating toddler speech and language as early as possible the way to go?