Although many parents rely on the public school system to educate their children when the appropriate time arises, I don’t know of a single mom that isn’t trying to do everything she can to give her child/children the best chance possible to be successful. What would you think if I told you that there are many simple things you can do to give your child a serious boost, that will affect their academics for the rest of their lives? No extra effort on your part… I can almost feel the excitement coming through my computer screen.
Developing your child’s vocabulary is something that you can work on before your child is even born, and not only is it easy, but it can also be a lot of fun. And research has proven that a child’s vocabulary growth is directly linked to his or her overall school achievement. When they have a stronger foundation to build on before they start school, they immediately have an advantage that most other children will not.
A stronger vocabulary will allow your child to understand the world around him better, give him a better command of speaking, comprehension and even reading and writing. It reduces anxiety in your child because she will be better able to communicate her needs and desires sooner, and she will be better able to communicate back and forth with you and others. This is will also give him the freedom to be more independent, express his creativity and imagination and reach for bigger personal goals, compared with those struggling with basics in each subject in school.
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Just that knowledge alone is amazing! But did you say that there were simple things I could do to help build my child’s vocabulary and academic performance now?! I did! And you can start before you even give birth by doing many of these things while pregnant. Let me show you how easy it can be.
Read
Reading to your children can be the very easiest and best thing that you do for them. Even if you simply read their board books or easy children’s books to them at night before they go to sleep, it will make a huge difference. You don’t have to be a good reader yourself, and you don’t have to make up silly voices if you’re not comfortable with it.
In fact, if you struggle to read the words in the simple children’s books, make up your own story base don the pictures. You’re children will never know. Just try to tell the story the same way every time you read it. Keep it simple. The idea is that they are hearing you speak, they are learning new words, and they are learning how humans interact together and how the world works. But they are also learning that words can tell stories and that these stories can be written down in books.
You can even get them to help you tell the story when they get a little older by asking questions like “What do you think will happen next?” and “What should he do now?” By simply reading to your child 15 minutes, or two books a night, they will learn to enjoy reading because that means special time with you. And maybe they’ll start reading to you!
Be
You can easily be a good example in their lives by simply doing your best to communicate what you are doing and what you are thinking throughout your time together. For example: “Now I’m going to crack the eggs in the pan and mix them up so they can cook. Oh man. It looks like they need a little bit of milk because they are sticking.”
I know it will feel strange at first, but not only does it help your kids to understand the ways of the household and why you do some of the things you do, but it will help them to understand you better. “I’m hot and tired, and I don’t think I can stand for another second. I’m going to sit down and rest before we keep playing.”
Through being an example in your kid’s lives, you draw them into your world, and they feel more connected with you. Children that feel safe and connected are able to absorb more and are free to explore and learn more from their environments.
Interact
Talk to them as they play, putting their feelings and actions into words for them just as you are doing with your own. Every opportunity you have to help them understand something with words, the greater exposure they have. I don’t mean to inundate them with words, because they’ll learn to tune you out, but simply interact with them as they play.
“Wow. What are you building? I like how you used every color block.” or “That was a really creative way to handle your friend not playing with you. I like how you asked her what she wanted to do.” Essentially you are not just talking them through their actions, but you can use this kind of communication to walk them through problem solving difficult situations, help them understand their feelings, and give them the words to describe their play.
They will love being able to tell you what they are doing, attempt new sounds, new phrases, and sometimes even create their own language to express themselves. I have loved this stage in my toddler’s life. He feels empowered with language, and feels better understood. We just get to enjoy the fun things he says everyday.
Related Articles: Teaching Kids to Be Healthy From the Beginning Teaching Your Children to Be Thankful Free Activities to Do With Your Kids Anytime Define Make sure to speak to your child according to his age though. You wouldn’t speak to an infant the same way you would to a 5 year old. Many adults swing one way or the other. They either speak to their children like adults and wonder why they don’t have a close bond with their kids, or they speak baby talk to them indefinitely and the children don’t have a chance to build their vocabulary. As a teacher for so many years, I have seen both sides of the coin and many gray areas in between.
This doesn’t mean that you always have to speak baby talk to make sure your kids understand you, but I certainly would get in the habit of explaining what you mean if you use bigger words. My husband would say to our 1 year old, “This isn’t the appropriate response” when he would do something my husband didn’t like. Then he would get upset that his son’s actions didn’t change. What?? How in the world was our toddler supposed to understand him?
However, “Your spoon is used for eating” or “We take care of our books” would have been perfectly okay. Then our son would have understood what his dad wanted. Your children truly want to do what makes you happy and will draw you closer to them. By communicating your needs, feelings and desires clearly to them, in a way they can understand, you will be teaching them to do the same for themselves.
Repeat
When you repeat what your child is trying to say,by giving them the right words, you are once again helping them to express themselves when they are struggling. You can see a theme here. This expands their worlds making them want to explore new things, strengthens your bond together, and empowers them making them feel more understood.
Communication is never a bad thing. It’s just like helping you child say please and thank you, or excuse me. Language can also help them receive positive interactions from others. If they can see the world as a positive place, and see themselves as someone that can make others happy, they will venture out more freely and be willing and able to learn more over time.
When you repeat for them what you said clearly, it lets them know that you find them valuable enough to make yourself understood. It also allows them to better understand you and be better able to please you. Help your kids understand themselves, understand the proper way to say things, and understand you. This is called setting them up for success.
Explain
Hardly anyone knows a child that doesn’t want to understand the world. “Why are you doing that? How does that work? Can I try it?” are all things we hear around our house on a daily basis. Your kids want to understand and they want to try it themselves. Give your kids the words to understand their interests. My oldest knows the name of every animal, construction truck, and tool that pretty much exists in the world. He’s a sponge for information.
He knows how to make eggs, what ingredients are needed to make almost anything, and how to fix a large variety of things. You can do your part to expand their creativity and imagination by explaining how something works or how to do something. They’re going to keep asking you and will want to know, especially if it’s important to you. Our kids so badly want to be like their parents.
What’s even better is when they want to know how to do the laundry, load the dishwasher, feed the dogs, or other great chores. Then they can help out around the house, even if it’s just loading the washing machine, unloading the dryer, helping you put dishes away or put them in the dishwasher, etc. My toddler feeds all of the animals in the house and it’s a load off my mind.
It may take some extra patience in the beginning, but it’s totally worth it, and they feel like valuable members of the household.
Answer
Answer your child’s questions. This one is easily explained. Children take time and patience, and too many people just brush them off. Answer their questions, even if you need to set limits. Right now I’m telling my oldest that he needs to let me finish this article, and then I can talk to him. He wants to go outside and play, but he understands “Please just let me finish this one article, and I’m all yours.” And even better, he lets me know the same thing when he’s trying to finish something up.
The way you communicate with your children will be modeled back to you. Speak to them with respect, talk through your actions and feelings, help them understand their own, and answer them when they ask you something, and they’ll return the respect to you, making life at home easier for everyone. That’s essentially what you are doing by giving them the words they need to understand and be understood.
Do your part and give in to the things that matter the most to them like interacting with you when they play, helping you while you work and answering their questions and you’ll see a huge return on your investment.
Memorize
Finally, one great thing to do with your kids is to memorize things with them, like addresses, phone numbers, songs, bible verses, or whatever. I taught my toddler our address here at home so that if anything were to happen to him, he would be able to tell someone his address. I also pointed out landmarks to show him how to get back home and encouraged him to tell me how to get home and tell me how he knew. All of this is vocabulary building.
He then started memorizing everyone’s address, so now we have one bible verse a week to memorize together. We also sings lots of songs together in silent or random moments that need to be filled with some sound. He loves Row, Row, Row Your Boat and the ABC song. You don’t have to be a professional singer or know really difficult songs. Learn some easy one that you child loves like The Wheels on the Bus or Old MacDonald.
Encourage her to sing them on her own and see if she can memorize the songs. Memorization is great for both of you and it will also increase her vocabulary. He will feel accomplished when he is able to get all the way through the address, bible verse, song or whatever you choose without your help.
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By increasing your child’s vocabulary, you are paving the way for so many things to be easier for them in the future. Learning to read will be easier, understanding people and being understood by others will be easier, and eventually studying will be easier and he’ll be able to absorb more from his learning.
Give her the tools to be successful now, at whatever age your child is, and you will be giving her a gift that will last a lifetime. And you can do many of these things while you’re still pregnant and awaiting your precious child. Even your child just being able to read and understand directions for putting furniture together, or being able to follow a recipe to make something delicious to eat will make it all worth while.
There are many people in this world that don’t have some basic skills in these areas and life all around is very difficult for them. Set your children up to succeed from the very beginning and both of your lives will be immensely easier.