Homegrown Readers cover You know you should be reading to your child daily, don’t you? All authorities agree on this most important gift a parent can give to a child.

But, did you know that speaking to your child is important too?

You might reply: “I talk to my kids all the time. I get them up in the morning, tell them to hurry and get dressed and in the evening I remind them to do their chores and homework and…”

I know you do. But here’s the thing. In this age of television and video games and ipads and ipods, our kids spend many hours each day with their eyes glued to a screen and their ears filled with earbuds.  They take in a lot of stimuli, but not the kind they need to respond to.

It’s becoming a one-way world. Parents can make concerted efforts to build conversation into family life. Dinner table discussion might be the one time during a child’s day when there is meaningful back and forth talk. Time spent driving to and from might be time to talk. Bedtime is another time to gather thoughts and spend a few minutes in real, meaningful conversation.

Talk to your children about their days and their activities. But go a little further and talk about topics. Begin sentences with open-ended questions such as “How do you feel about…?” or “What do you think, want, wonder about…?”

You might be surprised to hear your child’s deep and interesting answers when you take the time to talk.

Fact: The book, Meaningful Differences, by Hart and Risely, Ph.D’s, documented a direct link between a child’s success in school and the number of words spoken in their home from birth to age three.