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Since my own children were born, I have always spoken and read to them. I grew up this way (my mom was a teacher) and it only became natural for me to do the same. When speaking to my children, even as babies, I have never talked "baby" or used "baby" terms for things. For example, my girls have grown up knowing and using the correct terminology for their anatomy, I have used the correction pronunciation for words (i.e. bottle/blanket/pacifer versus baba/bankie/nuk), and have just had "normal", natural conversation even when they have not been able to respond. To help with communication and ease some frustration (on both sides), I have also taught my children simple sign language. So far, my older girls have both spoken from a young age and my oldest has had no issues with the academic demands of Kindergarten (so far). Again, this has all just come very natural to me and I haven't really had to think about it. My girls have always asked questions while being read to and make predictions without any teaching or discussion into what "good readers" do. It took a while for my husband to feel comfortable, but reading with expression is also something my girls have caught onto. For me, it is very unnatural to read a book without expressions, but for my husband (not coming from a childhood where he was read to) he needed some practice. It is entertaining to her a 3 year old "read" a book via memorization for pictures, and use different voices for different characters. It is a little bit of a shock for me to then come into the classroom where these types of interactions with language and literacy are not always as valued; students do not know how to interact with a book both physically and abstractly.

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I don't spend anytime with parents or their children but in the past I did work in the infant room at a daycare center. At this center, most of the parents were quite wealthy and college educated. I noticed that even with the infants that were under 6 months old, many of the parents spoke to them like they would a child that could speak. The mothers tended to speak in a more cutesy voice than the fathers would.

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I'm not sure I have much to add to this discussion, as I never had children, never babysat and have spent very little time around young children. My friends' and relatives' kids are adults now, so I'll have to go by memories from about 2 decades ago and more than that, as I draw on memories from my parents interacting with my younger brother. They definitely used the typical baby talk, and I do remember a lot of "questions" that obviously were not meant to be answered, as well as declarative statements pointing out various objects or animals, e.g., "That's a bird." "Are you sleepy?" So, no, I guess parents don't talk with babies as if they were valid communication partners, but even the dimmest among them seemed to know talking with them was important; perhaps that's instinctual, or perhaps they enjoyed seeing and hearing the babies' expressions and sounds as they were spoken to?

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I'm not sure I have much to add to this discussion, as I never had children, never babysat and have spent very little time around young children. My friends' and relatives' kids are adults now, so I'll have to go by memories from about 2 decades ago and more than that, as I draw on memories from my parents interacting with my younger brother. They definitely used the typical baby talk, and I do remember a lot of "questions" that obviously were not meant to be answered, as well as declarative statements pointing out various objects or animals, e.g., "That's a bird." "Are you sleepy?" So, no, I guess parents don't talk with babies as if they were valid communication partners, but even the dimmest among them seemed to know talking with them was important; perhaps that's instinctual, or perhaps they enjoyed seeing and hearing the babies' expressions and sounds as they were spoken to?

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Caroline

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This was tricky because I rarely saw parent/child interaction this week. The times I saw it were when parents were in a clearly supportive role - providing a meal for the music students before their concert or taking pictures of students after their play. I also interact with high school students, so explicit literacy development is less common. I suppose that parents interact with their high school students a lot like they would to another adult, and when it comes to valued literacy practices, parents value anything that seems like it is furthering their student's ability to do well in school. They value literacy that can be measured (which is a little frustrating sometimes, as not all valuable literacy is measurable!)

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Through observing several ESL classrooms through out my course work at Hamline, I noticed the importance each classroom placed in literacy of the home language of students by providing library of books in students' home languages. These libraries provided a variety of reading material of different genres (narrative, personal recount, etc.). It was encouraging to see such practices considering that none of my schools growing up promoted literacy in any language other that English.

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I work with an Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) preschool that primarily has students on the Autism Spectrum, many of which are nonverbal or have limited verbal communication skills. Many of my students have some degree of echolalia (they repeat the last words that were heard aloud), which is quite common for students with ASD. Many of my students also show signs of delayed echolalia. I am impressed by how most of the parents don't use a baby tone with their children because these tones will also be copied by their children.I find it funny how we tend to overdo the higher tone with children and pets but we wouldn't want our children to match those same high pitch, somewhat patronizing tones. It's also imperative to keep language very clean and free of 'bad words' because these children are sure to repeat what they hear whether they understand the meaning or not. The parents of my students overall do a great job of modifying their speech to avoid the potential issues caused by having a child with severe echolalia.

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I work with young children (3-6) and often see their interactions with parents and younger siblings. I see so many intentional and helpful interactions: parents getting down to eye level and speaking in regular tones of voice, asking relevant questions and listening patiently to answers. I also work with a lot of academically-oriented parents and often wonder how much they really understand early childhood development when I hear them talk using a large vocabulary and sophisticated concepts. When children can speak back using those same words they hear, (because children learn through imitation) it is often clear to me that being able to access those words doesn't necessarily mean they understand exactly what they're saying. I think it is important to speak to children with a rich vocabulary, but also important to keep in mind the limits of their understanding when it comes to developmental capabilities. We get a kick out of hearing a 2-year old using a word like "eventually" (and its good for them to have access to those kinds of words), but it doesn't necessarily mean they understand exactly what they're saying. I often see adults who have outsized expectations for very young children based on the words they use and then are disappointed or impatient when the child still behaves like a 2-year old.

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My sister-in-law will be the first to tell you she's a helicopter parent. My husband and I went over to her house for Halloween to help pass out candy while she takes her kids trick or treating. She was very strict that juice boxes were for kids under 4 and everyone else got pop. Has she was talking to her 3 year old, she was talking to big in her normal voice. While she talked to her 1.5 year old, she talked like she was a baby. I noticed her use a small vocabulary to explain why they had to put on so many layers of clothes to go outside, why they're not allowed to eat any candy until they get home, and why they're not allowed to get out of the wagon. The 3 year old just kept asking why to everything she said, so she ignored him and the 1.5 year old can only say a few words so she just repeated the word candy. My sister-in-law doesn't give them much freedom to do things themselves. I think that hinders their ability to explore their language or response to people.

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In my household I have a 9 year old cat who has been my only pet and constant companion since I was in college. In June, my sister had my niece who is the first grandchild for both families' sides. There are some odd similarities between how my boyfriend and I interact with our cat, and how my family interacts with my niece. The motherese, or baby talk, shows up when people interact with my niece, but simultaneously they often ask her more complex rhetorical questions in the singsong voice.

For example, yesterday my mom was working on their house and asked my niece "do you think we should finish caulking the windows before it gets dark outside?" It's an interesting mix of motherese and complex language. My family talks to her as if they are expecting a response, and using words that they would use with other adults, but in the motherese tone. She's still young enough that she hasn't heard a serious or angry tone directed at her from any adult, so anytime she hears motherese, she knows it's directed at her (or their dog) and engages more with the person talking to her.

This is where  the comparison with my cat comes in, we talk with her as if we are expecting a mature, thoughtful response, but the best we ever get is a few meows. We use baby talk with her if she is behaving sweetly, but a more adult tone if she's being a jerk or eating things she shouldn't.

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When I was reading the prompt, the thing that kept coming to mind was this funny video that went viral a few months ago. It's a video of a dad and his baby who's maybe about 1. The dad is asking questions and the baby babbles back and the dad responds to the baby's babble with other comments and questions so it seems like they're having a conversation. To me, this shows that the dad really values the baby's language/vocal chord development. Many times, I hear adults talk to babies and little kids almost like they're dogs, but in this video, the dad is talking to the baby like he does to other adults, like the prompt says, like a "valid communication partner". It's like they're equals. I'm not entirely sure why we talk to babies and little kids differently than adults. Maybe because we want them to understand out tone? I wonder how exposing babies to "baby talk" rather than authentic language affects their language development.

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I'm not a mother, nor do I have much experience with parent/child interactions and literacy practices, however I do have a 4 year-old niece and a 5 year-old nephew. My cousin also has a 4 year-old son. Being a French teacher, (and other members of my immediate family have some French language education), and my cousin's husband being from Mexico City, I found these customizable children's adventure books which also have a language option. My niece and nephew got their books in French, and my second cousin got his in Spanish. My cousin tells me that her husband reads it to their son often, then thank "Tia Hilary" for it. I wanted to make sure these kids in my family have a sparked interest in other languages and cultures.
They're not quite old enough to master it if the book were in English, but with time I hope they will.

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As if by magic, the story changes based on the letters of a child's name. So a kid called Charlie might meet a Chameleon, Hippo, Aardvark, Robot, Lobster, Imp and Elephant. The story will be as unique as their name.

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The Little Boy Or Girl Who Lost Their Name

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Discover an amazing, magical personalized book about a child who has lost their name. Each book is completely unique to the child; you can also include a personalized message at no extra cost, making it a very special keepsake. Buy yours today!

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Early Literacy and bilingualism             Because I   am aware of the importance of reading in helping  children  become passionate readers, reading  books /stories in Romanian and English was always something that we did every day before bedtime. As a result,  one of my children can read in Romanian without me ever teaching the Romanian alphabet or literacy skills and  they  are also in advanced English reading  classes.  I think the most important thing is that  this became a routine to the point where they do not go to bed without reading a story first. Now that they are a bit older they read stories to each other and  even though  they find reading in Romanian language more challenging than reading in English, they take the challenge.   

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Early Literacy and bilingualism             Because I   am aware of the importance of reading in helping  children  become passionate readers, reading  books /stories in Romanian and English was always something that we did every day before bedtime. As a result,  one of my children can read in Romanian without me ever teaching the Romanian alphabet or literacy skills and  they  are also in advanced English reading  classes.  I think the most important thing is that  this became a routine to the point where they do not go to bed without reading a story first. Now that they are a bit older they read stories to each other and  even though  they find reading in Romanian language more challenging than reading in English, they take the challenge.   

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This is a very interesting question to me and I notice it quite a lot. I have a service dog (Nugget) and I bring her in public places often. Having Nugget by my side in places where dogs are not allowed always gets the attention of children. Sometimes, this is the child's first experience with a service dog and I always find it so interesting the way the adult explains to the child that they cannot pet Nugget. The adult is usually calm and explains "Do you see how that dog is wearing a vest? That means its a working dog and we cannot pet dogs when they are working". This makes me think the adult is showing the child how to respect someones space. They use non complex vocab and wording so the child would easily understand. I like hearing this becuase educating children about service dogs is so important to those of us that use dogs. Children are so distracting to our dogs!

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I teach high school and don't have kids, but I nanny some younger kids once a week, so I do get some time around younger ones there.
They are ages 2, 4, 7, and 9. Each time I nanny, there is a to-do list for us to get done in the 4 hours I am there. Reading is always on the to-do list each week. Their mom has the 7 and the 9 year old read at least a chapter out loud to me while I'm there, and I know they do a lot more reading than that in their household as well. It's impressive. The 7 and 9 year old can both read pretty well (and are actually at about the same level). It's amazing how still they'll all sit if I'm reading to them too. Their parents have definitely developed a love for literacy in the home. Also incredible are the words they know. They are familiar with all kinds of words that they've been exposed to through the classical education they're getting, that I know I didn't lear until high school.
It definitely all comes down to the parents. They have and do put so much work into the development of their children and especially their love for reading, language, and books.
If they kids aren't being read to as a group or reading themselves, they are listening to audiobooks - which is what they fall asleep to at night. They also read all kinds of books; history-related, fiction, poetry, maps, science, science fiction, etc. All kinds.
It's pretty clear to me that they aren't picky at home about how the kids interact with the text. As i mentioned, they listen to books, are read to, and read for themselves. They also name their pets and toys after characters in books they've read.

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I am not a parent, so I do not have any first-hand experience with this in my household.  My niece was read to all the time when she was little and I feel that has factored into her language development and love for reading now (she is an avid reader and surely has read more books than me at this point).  Both her parents really value books and the power of reading.  In my current context (preschool and some elementary), I always try to encourage reading at home (whatever is of interest to the student), and have started some sustained silent reading exercises in class with the elementary students.  I also really value reading to students in class in hopes of it sparking an interest in stories and written language.  There is so much rich and authentic language used in stories, especially children’s stories.  To add to the discussion on keeping a reading log, I am on the fence with it. I have seen students just try and fill up their reading logs without actually doing the reading.  However, I see the value in using them as a way to keep track and look back on how much one has read throughout a week/month/year.

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I have a lot of passion for this particular topic.  I am probably a little too crazy and over protective of my four-year-old daughter's language but I swear my intentions are good.

I try to speak to hear as I would anyone else and I have done this since she was a baby.  I never use that horrendous baby tone.  I don't dumb down my vocabulary, but rather wait for her to be curious and ask what a new word means.  I also read at least three books every evening to her so she is exposed to a variety of language.  We have even gotten to the point where  the threat of going to bed without a book is a consequence of misbehavior!  (I haven't had to do this yet and I am not sure I could even follow through with it!)

It drives me insane when people underestimate her ability to speak but they are usually quickly put in check with her quick, sharp responses.  Her father is guilty of this often.  I always try to get him to slow down and let her respond as he will often ask her a question and respond before she can.  Interrupting her is not only rude and hypocritical (as we teach children it is rude to interrupt) but it inhibits her from thinking about answers and coming up with her own responses.

I also generally don't directly correct her if she says something wrong so as to avoid any frustration with language mistakes.  For instance she will say "Grammy buyed my these shoes."  And my response will be, "Oh, Grammy bought you those shoes?"  She is hearing the correct past tense of "buy" but I am not correcting her.

I just don't think we give very young children enough credit, talking to them in a baby like manor and not allowing them to be curious about language and make their own discoveries.  It is important for children to be children of course, but, in my opinion, treating them as incompetent babies can create a lack of independence and hinder language development.

I could talk for hours on this subject!

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With a background as an English language arts teacher, I am well aware of the importance of reading. We know that reading to our young children is important, and we know that reading proficiency has a huge impact on the later years of education. One of my courses as an undergrad had me observing a first grade class at about this time of year.  At just a fourth of the way through the year, it was clear that some students were getting more support at home than others.  It was eye-opening as a soon-to-be educator.  While we know that children need involvement at home to establish and foster reading, not every family is able to do that to the same extent.

In the work I do now with students who did not complete high school, I tell them that they might not like everything that they have to read, nor do they have to. Honest answers about what was read are encouraged when doing an assignment that wants a response to the text. I don't think I felt I could dislike a reading as a student. I thought it was some deficit in me if there was no connection. Since I am working with many students who did not do well in the regular k12 system, I try to avoid them feeling that way.

Finally, when I ask my ABE students if they read or if they like to read, they often say "no". Digging deeper what I discover is that they don't necessarily read novels, which is what they think of when I first ask the question. We have this notion that a "reader" is someone 352 pages into a huge work of fiction. When I ask what they do read, I hear things like fan fiction, articles about interests and hobbies, etc. Something in the way we are conditioning our students makes them view this as less valuable types of reading.

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As a 6th grade teacher, I assign 20 minutes of reading per night. I don't have a reading log due or anything, but I tell the parents to try and get those 20 minutes in on average, knowing that life gets busy and things come up from time to time. However, I want it to be normal for students to enjoy reading for fun, not just for assignments. I tell the same things to my students. This aligns really well with some parents' perspectives, but others prefer having a purpose for that reading or are surprised when they don't have to fill in a reading log and get it signed. The reason I don't do that is because often times it is done last minute and teachers spend time getting upset with kids and tracking down papers which can, in my opinion, really kill the joy of reading.