Another 32 Million Words
By Albert B. Kelly
By any objective measure
Bridgeton is an economically challenged community. Whether we use terms like
“low income” in a demeaning way or we simply cite median household income, the
reality is that families face the consequences of poverty in many ways.
Perhaps the worst of these
consequences are the ones that play out in the lives of our children and
grandchildren. At a time when so many are divided, one thing that binds us
together is a desire to see the next generation have better and more than we
had.
Poverty tends to make that
difficult for some children and nearly impossible for others. But what if there
was something we could do to change this; something inexpensive that could
shape a child’s future for the rest of their lives?
There is such a thing.
It’s not a “quick fix” nor is it a “one shot” solution. It will require a small
investment of time. It is something that parents and grandparents can do now
and it doesn’t depend on having a lot of money. It’s as simple as reading to a
child.
In a recent book “A Path
Appears”, authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn point to research by
scholars Betty Hart and Todd Risley that tracked 42 families, actually taping parents’
interactions with their young children, for a period of 2 years. This included everyday
talking, but also reading to and with their children.
In terms of a child’s
development they found that children of families on welfare heard approximately
3 million words spoken a year, while children from working-class families heard
about 6 million words a year. Children of professionals heard on average 11
million words a year.
By age four, children of
professionals will have heard about 32 million more words than children at the
other end of the spectrum. And it was not just the number of words, but the
quality of the words. Were the words scolding and discouraging or uplifting and
encouraging?
They also found that TV as
an “electronic babysitter” doesn’t substitute for a parents’ voice and
interaction.
Researchers followed these
children through the years and found a direct connection between reading to and
engaging with babies and toddlers and brain development, IQ scores, learning in
school, high school dropout rates and more.
None of this is a judgment
against poor or working class families, but it acknowledges the stresses of being
a single parent, families with two and three jobs, and every other stress
that’s part of scratching out a living that can make for a preoccupied parent-
stealing time and attention.
But researchers also found
that this was easily fixable. While there are pre-school and early childhood
programs, doctors and other experts strongly encourage parents (and
grandparents) to read to babies and toddlers; even giving away books like
prescriptions.
They found that parents
that did little to no reading to and with their children, were never read to as
kids themselves; it was something new that they had to start with their own
children. But the results were clear as children’s vocabularies grew, test
scores went up and later in life, these children were much less likely to drop
out of high school or avoid college.
My point is that one clear
way to start to break the cycle of poverty and its effects on children is to
make it a routine to read to babies and toddlers. With research showing that
the bulk of a child’s development comes in the first 2-3 years of life, this is
one clear way to get them off to the right start.
If you don’t have books, go
to the Bridgeton Library as they are launching their January 2015 “1,000 Books before
Kindergarten” program for children ages 0-5 years old. The program is solid but
more than anything, the library provides access to countless books for the
asking. The Library also has “Pre-School Story Time” on Tuesday mornings and
“Baby Time” on Friday mornings.
In addition, I have
received over 3,000 books for distribution from the North Jersey Foundation; an
organization that believes that every child deserves this chance. Some books
have already been distributed through area churches for Christmas. The
remainder will go to our library.
Life can be hard and just
getting by can be even harder and more stressful. Don’t let it steal the time
or your bond with your child. Talk to them, read to them- speak encouraging
words into their souls. Read dreams and adventures into them; another 32
million words…we’ll get there together.