Samantha Katz
Child Psychologist WJCS Parent Child Home Program

Monthly Column

(January 2010)

Fathers Matter!

                 Gone are the days when children grew up with stay-at-home mothers and only fathers went to work. With today’s blurring of gender roles, fathers, like mothers, are important guides in their children’s growth, especially early literacy development.  Before children learn to read, they must develop verbal, print, phonetic and vocabulary skills. Success in these areas requires significant parental involvement.

                 Typically language develops through speaking with parents and other adults. Researchers have begun uncovering the critical role fathers play in promoting their children’s social-emotional health and school success.  By reading and speaking with one’s children and  modeling early literacy behaviors, fathers can make lasting positive impacts on their children’s early literacy development.

                Fathers and mothers read differently with their children. Fathers tend to be more interactive, engaging their children in conversation about the stories.  This is especially important as richer discussions about the content of books can increase children’s verbal skills.  The more a parent encourages a child to speak while reading, the more practice with verbal expression a child has. Fathers may particularly enjoy the dramatic facets of shared book reading, such as changing their voices to match different characters.  Such a lively reading grabs a child’s attention injecting excitement into reading. 

                Fathers also can impact their children’s literacy development just through talking. When playing catch, fathers can describe the ball going back and forth, and when shopping for groceries, fathers can speak about the different types of foods on the shelves.  Dinner provides a convenient time for conversations.  Fathers can describe their day focusing on events that might be significant or humorous for a child.  In addition, fathers can ask their children about their own days. As children develop language, they enjoy speaking about themselves. By encouraging these discussions, fathers not only positively impact their children’s ability to express themselves, they also boost their children’s self-esteem. 

                Children like to imitate their parents. When a father picks up a newspaper, magazine, pamphlet or book, children observe and view these activities as important and may spend more time engaged in literacy-based activities               

Family structure issues, such as a child living with a mother and visiting with a father may impact a father’s participation in early literacy activities. To increase a father’s involvement, several different approaches can be attempted.  Mothers can play an important role here, filling in the fathers on events that children enjoy.  Doing so can inform the fathers of potentially fruitful conversational topics.  In addition, fathers can audio/videotape themselves reading stories so children can play these tapes when away from their fathers.  

                Although, on average, mothers continue to spend more time with their children, fathers have been dedicating increasingly more time to childrearing. Taking the time to read and speak with their children, fathers can promote early literacy development.  They also can demonstrate that they value these activities. This will increase the likelihood that as children grow, they continue to enjoy and appreciate the importance of literacy-based activities.

January 2010

Early childhood matters!
Children's Play: What's all the fuss about?

     Did you know that 90% of a child’s brain is fully developed by the time he or she is five years old? And did you know that this development is difficult to alter later in life?

    From building with blocks to coloring with crayons and feeding dolls, youngsters often spend the bulk of their day busy at play. Not only does play provide children with joy, it also is an important opportunity for early learning. By sharing in play, parents can enhance their children’s language development, cultivate their self-esteem and inspire creativity. It also benefits health — yes, health — both physical and mental

     Playtime is a natural setting for parents and children to talk with each other. “Expansions,” in which parents repeat children’s remarks adding something new, are particularly effective at enhancing language development. For example, if a child says, “That’s a ball” the parent can reply, “Yes, that’s a shiny, blue ball.” Asking open-ended questions, like “What foods should we bring to our tea party?” and “Where is your car driving?”, elicit rich verbal responses. Singing, something children of all ages love to do with their parents, is a form of play based entirely in language. Infants and toddlers particularly love song-game combinations like “Where is Thumbkin” and “Open Shut Them.”

     Parents can make specific comments to build their children’s self esteem. Remarks such as, “Wow, you’re adding a lot of colorful details to your picture,” which praise a child’s efforts make a child feel appreciated. Parents also can ask specific questions about their child’s likes and dislikes while interacting. Referring back to the child’s opinions, parents make their children feel important. For example, when playing with toy animals, parents can ask about their child’s favorite animals. If the child likes penguins, the parent can suggest that they waddle like penguins. By doing this, the parent conveys that the child’s opinions are worthy.

     Pretend play — acting out familiar activities — especially promotes both children’s creativity and verbal skills. Beginning at about 18 months children can engage in simple make-believe activities pretending to talk on a phone or feed a stuffed animal. Older children often love to play “house” or “school,” activities that are familiar to them. As they negotiate what to act out and actually dramatize their activities, they produce a lot of spontaneous language. Studies suggest this activity may build and support their social skills and confidence. Parents can encourage such play at home, by suggesting that they pretend to take care of “baby,” prepare for a picnic or shop at the grocery store.    

     Language-based play is an ideal down time activity. When waiting at the doctor’s or taking a long car ride, word games like taking turns listing the real and made-up words that rhyme (cap, sap, tap, pap, lap…) are fun and help develop children’s understanding of the structure of language. Games like “I Spy,” in which players take turns guessing an object that the other person is describing are also highly enjoyable.