Want to improve your child's educational chances? Then talk to them....

Baby talk is becoming more serious. Worrying numbers of youngsters can’t string a sentence together when they start school and their delayed speech can affect them for life.

But who is to blame for this nation of reluctant talkers? Fewer and fewer children are speaking confidently, and that means additional problems in understanding, communication, and, as they get older, their ability to learn. Recent research suggested that 90 per cent of nursery workers are concerned that speech difficulties amongst pre-schoolers are rising. More chatterboxes are definitely needed.

Now a new study by the National Literacy Trust reports that you can make a real difference to your child's life, stress levels and language development by buying them a buggy which means they can see you. I think this makes perfect sense, and it has long been advocated by parental experts.

You can find out more about this via the Talk to Your Baby campaign, but in a nutshell, buying a buggy which is rear-facing means your child learns to communicate with you (by sounds if not exact speech) and so builds up an understanding of what language is. The parent who can see their child is able to smile, chat and point out things along the way. Isn't that better than grimly pushing him or her down the street while listening to an I-pod or speaking on a mobile phone? This new research suggests that parents who have buggies which face them are more than twice as likely to talk to their infant, and that the child is more likely to talk back.

There is a problem though. When my daughter was born, I was very keen to purchase a buggy which meant my daughter could see me. It took a while to find one, and it wasn't cheap. Gwyneth Paltrow famously made the Bugaboo pram popular, and that seems like a wise choice, but it's certainly at the top end of the market. The research is all well and good, but manufacturers need to take note, and make more products which cannot only be used in this way, but which are affordable.

Read all about whether there is a "right" kind of baby buggy on Alpha Mummy right now!

And read School Gate on:

Are we teaching our children too much too young?

Why play is so important for kids

Lessons before school

How dangerous are the under-5's?

Comments

[Marco]

yes, oh look little Johnny, see that?! oh, no, of course you didn't, you can only see me... switchable buggies would be a nice idea - do you want to face mummy or the outside world today, Johnny?

[Henry Weiss]

Sorry,

For everyone's information, this from Kenny :

"My son is 2 nd can talk quite fluently now, reason is because WE HAVE NO TV

Posted by: Kenny | November 21, 2008 at 02:15 PM "

[Henry Weiss]

That's quite some statement Kenny.

I'm not sure what the existece of millions of parents that do have both TVs and talking 2 year olds does to your theory though.

[Whimsey]

Isn't there a theory that youngest children take longest to speak, as they get used to their older siblings doing it for them? ("Mum, Johnny wants a drink" etc)

[Diana]

Twins are more likely to lag behind in speech as the parent doesn't get so much 1to1 time. They can't really be carried round in slings either so it has to be buggies. 16 years ago that meant a facing out onto the world experience for my two. So, when the hoods were down, I talked away to them ignoring passerbys who thought I was certifiable. I feel vindicated! I just need to know how to stop them getting the last word now!!

[Lesley]

The inference of this interpretation of the study is that mothers spend all day pushing their babies around in buggies, when in fact we spend all day interacting with them on the floor at home, in the high chair, playing with toys, reading books etc. For the brief period that a child is in a buggy, one can hardly be stunting their linguistic development or causing them stress. On the contrary, I generally resort to a walk in the buggy because my child (and I) have had enough stimulation for one day and both need some 'down' time.

[maria]

Nice to see research making everything nice and clear then! So to recap, based on the above:

1. If you have been pushing a forward facing buggy you have been doing so GRIMLY while talking on the phone and ignoring your progeniture that is being raised in SILENCE and is now being traumatised in this foray into the outside world.

2. BUT, if have been pushing the back facing buggy, you are HAPPY and "able to smile, chat and point out things along the way".

And that is the choice you are faced with as a parent-

So, will you join the ranks of the happy, caring back facing buggy pushers or the grim forward buggy pushers?

Not only does your child's future linguistic ability depend on it, but also you own mood (will you be grim or will you smile?), so what you'll be listening to (child or i-pod) and who you"ll be speaking to (will you chat with your child or spend time on your mobile presumably with another grim forward- facing buggy pusher?)

Obviously the kind of person you are and the circumstances of your life have nothing to do with how you do things, oh no! It's the kind of buggy you have!

[KAJ]

It never ceases to amaze me how we have become a generation of creative panics!!! And we have all sort of statistics and studies to support anything! Who said kids are losing their ability to talk or communicate?! If anything they communincate and talk way too much. Have you seen a teen-ager not being able to stand in your face and tell you its his/her life and he/she would do as he pleases?! Or toddler not making you understand what is it exactly that he wants? In my mind what we are facing is not kids not talking rather kids talking too much. Of course it makes sense to talk to your kid and listen to them and most moms do that naturaly. Thats the way we bound with our kids and if one or two of us fail to do that, there are enough stimulants around to make them talk and learn much faster than they should. If we have learing problem at school it is not communication problem its concentration and I don't blame them.Now a days Kids have too many things to pay attention to and play with even in the school and giving them credit they are not doing bad. However, if this generation is growing up weary of studies and not very well educated then we should look into education system.

[Annoyed mama]

Talk about pushy parents!
Just chill out and enjoy their childhood and let them be children, nothing worse than hearing a parent go on about how their child is "above average", does it really matter? Where does happiness (theirs and yours) come into this equation? TV or no TV, front facing buggy or otherwise...remember the fears you had immediately before your little one was born about "I just hope they are born healthy?". how quickly we forget....and our aspirations for our kids change. BTW if you need to drive your child places whats the solution there vis a vis facing your child?!

[Lila]

William - why the suggestion that Sarah is copying the Daily Mail? That report was widely released to all newspapers - looks like the Southern Reporter picked it up from the Daily Mail, not Sarah! In any case, her article is about language development and choice, not really about the stress levels. Not sure if you read it properly...

[William]

Maybe the highly paid journalists at the Times could see how it's done properly by reading this article, 'Buggy study pushed too far':

http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/nhshealth/Buggy-study-pushed-too-far.4721630.jp

in the lowly Southern Reporter. At least there people do some checking instead of copying the daily mail

[Anne]

My step son has always been forward facing in prams and push chairs, has been watching the television since he was able to recognise it, he taught himself to read at the age two. Now as a six year old he is reading school books for 11-12 year olds and doing early secondary school maths. How awful those forward facing push chairs are.

[Julia]

Please, young Mothers and Fathers(if available) take out "dummies" from childrens mouths and talk to your babies and toddlers.Too many parents/carers go around talking to each other and not to the child.Is it any wonder children are so inarticulate ?

[Kim]

Kenny: "My son is 2 nd can talk quite fluently now, reason is because WE HAVE NO TV".

There's a phrase scientists use quite a lot. It's "Correlation does not prove causation". There could be other reasons why your child speaks fluently - maybe a genetic predisposition, or perhaps because his parents speak to him a lot.

My daughter watched lots of television when she was small - shoot me now - but also spoke early (in fact, she learnt some words from television programmes). At nine, she is still highly articulate with a wide vocabulary. My guess is that there a number of reasons - genetic predisposition, the fact that her parents talk to her a lot, the fact we've always read to her a lot, the fact that as an only child she gets more adult attention than other children - but the truth is I don't know any of this for certain.

And much as I'd like to congratulate myself on the fact she spoke early, I'm not sure how important it is. I know boys who barely spoke a word till they were three, and then developed into articulate, intelligent, academically successful children.

[Glen Thomas]

The researchers describe the main effect of having a child facing away is that parents are much less likely to talk to them and more likely to be on the phone.

So, you don't need to buy an expensive rear-facing buggy that won't fit in the boot of a small car, or feel guilty about front-facing ones. Simply talk to your kid about what's happening around them.

The bigger issue is why some infants spend two hours a day in a buggy, and with no adult interaction in all that time. It can't all be nannies on their moblie phones, can it?

Glen
Education blog at http://gcthomas.blogspot.com

[Angus]

I agree with a lot of what has been said in the comments. We have encouraged our children to walk from the earliest stage. You need a buggy or back carrier when they are babies - rear or front facing is immaterial. But when they can walk for a bit(aged generally one and a half to two and over), get them out. It makes for stronger, healthier children. Sure you have to carry the little ones when they flag a bit but it's preferable to humping round hundreds of pounds worth of unnecessary designer buggy. There is nothing more dispiriting than the sight of some big lump of a child being pushed around in a buggy - often with a dummy. Bovine parents, bovine children.

[Ann-Marie]

A pram that allows baby to face mum or dad works well with younger babies but as long as you continue to talk to your children they are fine in a fowarding facing buggy as they get older.

We do have the dreaded TV and horror of horrors our 2 year old watches it. She too was speaking in full sentences before her second birthday. She often suprises people with her language ability.

Talking to children is key, at the meal table, about what they are watching on televison, the book you are reading, what they have done at play group.

[Polly]

From a very early age I read to my son and still do now that he is 3.He was only facing me in a buggy for the first six months and then he faced the world which stimulated him more than mummy. The important thing is to talk to your child normally and when they do start to talk, make time to listen to them. My son is a very articulate 3 year old who communicates well and uses vocabulary well in the correct context. Which way he is facing in a pushchair had nothing to do with his development and is another way of brainwashing consumers to have the latest pram

Seems to me the missing information from this survey is the socio-economic class of the non-speaker children. For obvious reasons.

Also, children that are dumped on a listless, uninterested au pair/nanny who's more interested in texting her friends than mentally stimulating her charges, could be equally at risk.

[estella]

My children grew up with no TV. I would read to them before bed, and they had a half hour of reading time on their own every night before "lights out". I cooked them meals every day, and they ate together at the table. They had building sets and figures and played with them indoors and out. They both did very well in school, and the younger one taught himself to read at 3 It was a surprise. The preschool teacher thought I had taught him. I had thought he learned this in school. So I asked him..."I wanted to so,so,bad.... that I just did."
Mothering makes a huge difference in their development.
(All the pushcarts faced toward the front at the time, so I don't think it made any difference.)

[Sarah Sheehan]

We have a TV, it goes on AFTER baby is in bed though.
With the "busy" lives we lead I think it could be very easy to fool yourself into thinking that giving your child an ongoing monologue on everything you say and do is superfluous. My mother did that with my sister and I and now no-one can shut me up. It worked on my nephews and now my own son is attending nana's School of Language Development.

[G.A.GILMARTIN]

My children all faced the front and I found they became quite observant on their own. All of them talked quite early and well. I think it is to do with the Mother and not where the child is facing. Less T.V. proper meals at the table and plenty of information from Mum and Dad.

[newjerseygirl]

I had a Jané travel system (not as expensive as the Bugaboos and looks much nicer) which converted from pram to a pushchair that used the included baby car seat (so my son was still facing me) and it was only when he had outgrown both of those that I used it as a regular pushchair. I much preferred it when I could look at him, talk to him and point things out, and I'm sure it was beneficial to him.
He wasn't an especially early talker, but now at age 3 he is a chatty, observant boy who spends our walks now pointing out stuff to me!

[Jos Costello]

So now I know why I always carried mine round Tesco in a sling, yakking about the quality of the broccoli and the brown spots on the cauliflower. I didn't bother with buggies until they were about 8 months and even then mostly tended to lug them around in a backpack. They both talked in full sentences before they were 2.
Do these researchers have any tactics for getting them to NOT talk sometimes?

[Kenny]

My son is 2 nd can talk quite fluently now, reason is because WE HAVE NO TV

[Hol]

Semms a sensible notion to me - if they can see you while you talk they can also see your lip movements, and presumably start to associate them with what they're hearing.