In an earlier blog, "Risk of Suicide and of Suicide Attempts," I described a study by Hart and Risley that followed 42 families for 3 1/2 years counting the number and nature of words directed to young children aged 7months to 2 1/2 years with the families divided into three groups identified as professional, working class and welfare. Hart and Risley found that the more words spoken to these very young children the better their vocabulary, the higher their IQ and better their success in school. Their success continued into adulthood.
The difference in words spoken was dramatic as over the first 4 years of a child's life. In the professional category of family, the child would hear 48 million words, while those from working classs families would hear 23 million words and those from the welfare category of family would hear 13 million words. The difference in number of words the children heard was correlated for chldren from welfare families starting school 12-14 months behind the children from professional families. Follow-up studies found that this difference was not made up even with efforts by the schools to increase their vocabularies. The study also found that children are more confident [and successful] if they hear more positive words directed to them when they are young [and older too].
So, it may be obvious why I consider this important. All of us can talk more to our children [not just asking questions!]. We can also encourage and support our children as this will improve their self-conficence and reduce risk that they will be suicidal or attempt suicide. This indicates how important it is to be positive with our children. It is also a good way to be with each other as parents and really with anyone.
If more of us were encouraging and supportive with people that we interact with, the stress level around us would be a lot less. Let's give it a try.