Read to Your Baby

 

When our first born was very young, we had been gifted a picture book with farm animals in it.  I would point to the figures and say, horse, cow, sheep, duck, chicken and so on - - naming each item in the pictures.

Then I would touch his mouth and say, “mouth,” and in turn, touch and speak words for his nose, ear, eye, and tummy with a little tickle and a laugh.

Also at bed time I would sing the old hymns that he was hearing at Church.  He developed a love of books and began to talk distinctly at an early age. 

If I knew then what I knew now; I would have done the same thing with our second and third daughters. 

 

I must have been too occupied with others things because I failed to read and take the time individually with my girls.  Both girls were late to speak clearly enough to be understood and although both of them can read, neither love books the way our first born does. 

Studies show that children from the time they are (still in the womb) and as a newborn they need to hear their mother (and father) speak soft loving words to them.  You may think a newborn will not understand as you read from the book of Psalms, or the stories of Jesus - - but their spirit is picking up your words and storing them in their subconscious. 

About now, some of you may be scoffing and question, “Of what real value is it for a newborn to be read to from the Bible or a Bible story book?” 

Hebrews_4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

A Dad reading to his baby

When our grown son’s first born came along, our son being an avid reader, must have researched that children need to hear their parents speak words to them. 

 

At what our son considered a reasonable bed time, he began to lay his boy down in his crib and to read until the baby fell asleep and shut the door.  Before long the baby was sleeping through most of the night.

Researchers tell us that it is NOT words from the TV, radio, or lullabies from a CD or DVD that will lodge in the child’s mind.  It is their parent’s human voice they long for and need to hear.

In the October 2014 issue of Readers Digest, Melissa Rae Greene wrote an article about “Word Power for Babies.  She stated that to break the cycle of poverty young children need something as abundant as the air, and that is - - words from their parents.

Babies need the basic things for a good start, mother’s milk, or something like it, love, attention, and playtime; clean clothes, and a safe place to sleep. 

Parents all over the world try to give their babies these essentials, but educational researchers have uncovered something else babies need to develop properly.  Many babies suffer from a shortage of words - songs, nursery rhymes, story books, chitchat, and the everyday stuff.

Proverbs_16:24  Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Proverbs_18:4  The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom  as a flowing brook.