Photo by aidensmomma508
Apparently, all those goofy things we do in front of our babies and toddlers -- flapping our arms to mimick flying and stretching our arms wide while singing "so big" -- really pay off in the end.
Children of parents who gesture a lot when they are babies and toddlers have a larger vocabulary when they start kindergarten.
But the linchpin in all this? Cold hard cash. Rich parents gesture more to their children as babies that lower-income parents do, which may explain the correlation between high socioeconomic status and good grades!
The researchers in this study went to the homes of 50 families of varying income levels who had 14 month olds. They videotaped for 90 minutes to count both parents' and childs' words and gestures with specific meanings.
Higher income parents did gesture more, and their children on average produced 25 meanings in gesture during that 90-minute session. They also talked more, and with more varied vocabulary and syntax, which undoubtely makes a huge difference, too.
When these kids entered kindergarten, they had a richer vocabulary than children who weren't gestered to a lot as babies.
Yeah, that part makes total sense. Gestures = meaning = words. No need to spend billions on a study to learn that!
What I find way more interesting is how they explain this away ... that rich parents gesture MORE than poor parents. I can't think of a single reason why that could be. Do rich arms work better than poor arms because they are in better shape, constantly building muscle from counting all that money?
Other moms from my MOMS UNCENSORED group agree with me:
"I'm a talking with my hands, gesturing fool around here," says Ellen523. ''Maybe higher income kids go to snazzy daycares or very well-paid nannies. Most kids I know in daycare seem more talkative. I'm sure that has to do with
all of the social interaction though."
Maybe higher income kids go to snazzy daycares or very well paid nannies.
Most kids I know in daycare seem more talkative. I'm sure that has to do with
all of the social interaction though. I think kids are all unique and they are
right on time for them.
"We are considered a low income family, and my DD has a wider vocabulary than most kids her age according to her pediatrician," missamanda86 says. "No, she can't fully form sentences, but she can talk. And in school, it seemed to me that the poor families talked to thier kids more, and interacted more with them because they didnt have a full extra curricular schedule."
These researchers need to get a clue. We are so much smarter. Let's debunk this theory right here and now.
1. Would you consider yourself to have money or not to have money?
2. Do you gesture a lot or just a little to your baby or toddler?
Tell me in comments and let's get to the bottom of it. Thanks. This is so much better than cleaning up the kitchen.
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Comments 25
My family is smack dab in the "middle class." My two have large vocabularies for their age, something I attribute not to wild gestures but to use of language. We never talked down to our kids. We don't use simple words or baby talk. We speak to them as we would anyone else. If they don't understand a word, we offer a definition. Kids can't learn words they aren't exposed to during the normal course of conversation. Speaking in complete, complex sentences goes a long way IMO.
1. Would you consider yourself to have money or not to have money? We are not rich, But we have spending money when we need it. I wouldn't say we're considered any more than low class.
2. Do you gesture a lot or just a little to your baby or toddler ? I would say that I used alot of gestures to my child. My children are also very well spoken and very smart. My daughter is 3 and she knows her left and rights...abc's and counting to 20. Not to mention a whole lot more. I think poor kids talk just fine.
are YOU kidding ME?
it's well, not good. was the error meant to be there for effect?
autodidact, I was wondering the same thing!
This article just reinforced that teaching your baby to sign is a great thing to do, not that you should aspire to move up in economic class.
Well, I grew up middle class with a Latino mom and extended family that LOVED to talk with their hands LOL. I was reading WAY above my grade level and according to family was a grow up in a kid's body. My son reads above his grade level and talks wonderfully and has a wide ranging vocabulary and I am definitely lower class; not poor but not middle either. I never really baby talked to him, I always used real words and corrected him growing up- talked to him just like I would another grown up basically. My step-daughter though, talks with a learned speech impediment. Her mom (according to my DH) talks a little off and her aunt on her mom's side has a speech impediment bad enough to where she was offered a special school to go to. My SD has problems with articulation that a speech therapist told her mom and dad was just due to laziness. I tend to agree as I MAKE her repeat words that are pronounced incorrectly and she gets them right away. Go figure huh. So, I don't think it's JUST class levels that determine vocab - I think it's also how parents were raised and how they pass that to their children.
First of all, a study of only 50 families is hardly conclusive of the entire population. Secondly, I would agree that this fact is very possible, but not always the case. Like a PP stated, I think it may have to do with more socialization at home and outside of the home. I'm in the lower class, and having lived in several lower class areas, I see kids all the time who are totally ignored and just sent outside to fend for themselves. But I'm sure that there are upper class kids that get ignored by their parents as well. I have always tried my best to talk to my kids, read to them, and give them other opportunities to learn proper language and communication. Oh, and one of my BIGGEST pet peeves lately is my son has picked up the word "mines" like "it's mines car." I always correct him and say it is "mine" not "mines!"
Oh,please....this is absolutely ridiculous...I am lower end middle class and both of my girls have always gotten excellent grades...guess we weren't in the 50 that was part of the study,huh?
I have always been the upper-middle class witha lower income level. We have nice things because we budget and make responsible purchases. With that said, I have 4 kids. My first 3 were early talkers, the last one is my delayed talker. I think he was at the accumulation end of the gene pool and acquired all of my hubby's and my late talking traits.
I have read similar articles relating/blaming lower income families for a child's delayed speech... I think it's unfair to categorize our socioeconomic status with something we really don't have that much control over. It's like telling us it's our fault that we're poor, and we're suffering by having children with special needs. How much more guilt can they straddle a mother with? I would love to see how they "persuaded the results" of those studies.
Here is my journal post about a friend of mine with twins... one talks, one does not. Is this mother to blame? (she's not low income, but she is frugral.)
Great article though... I love your writing style.
I grew up poor, and I was called loquacious when I was in kindergarten. I started talking early, and was reading by the time I was 3, because - shock of all shocks - my mom SPENT TIME WITH ME! Imagine that! As for my kids, they both started talking early, and have excellent vocabularies because I never used baby talk with them. I talked to them like I would anyone else. I think that's a big part of it too.
I don't agree with this. I ended up becoming a single mom due to domestic violence and was considered low income. My dd knew sign language as a infant, and had and still does a HUGE vocabulary.