Speaking of Women’s Health Encourages Parents to Feed Babies’ Brains by Reading Aloud
Posted on September 30, 2014
Did you feed your baby’s brain today?
That’s a question that Speaking of Women’s Health and its partner, Read Aloud 15 MINUTES, want parents and caregivers everywhere to answer with a resounding, “Yes!”
Speaking of Women’s Health is proud to extend our important mission by sharing “Let’s Talk: Nourishment,” a series of messages during the month of October that encourages parents to seize responsibility for nourishing their children’s brains as well as their bodies. Speaking of Women’s Health and the national non-profit Read Aloud 15 MINUTES are united behind the idea that when children everywhere are read aloud to for at least 15 minutes every day, from birth, it will change the face of education in the United States.
“From the moment babies are born, parents devote so much energy to keeping their children well nourished,” says Read Aloud 15 MINUTES founder, Dr. Candace Kendle. “We want parents to make the connection that babies’ brains are also in need of food: brain food.”
Brain food, Kendle explains, comes in the form of exposure to vocabulary; knowledge-building; and rich interactions with loved ones. What activity checks all of these “nutritional” boxes? Reading aloud. “One of the best activities for nourishing a baby’s brain,” she says, “is reading aloud together for at least 15 minutes every day from birth.”
During the month of October, Speaking of Women’s Health will join more than 900 other Read Aloud 15 MINUTES partners in all 50 states to help spread this important movement by sharing the “Let’s Talk: Nourishment” messages with our constituents. As a Read Aloud 15 MINUTES partner, Speaking of Women’s Health participates in three annual “pulses” centered around the importance of daily reading aloud; we aim to share this crucial piece of parenting wisdom with all the families we work with - and change the face of education in our community.
About Read Aloud
Read Aloud 15 MINUTES is a non-profit organization that is working to make reading aloud every day for at least 15 minutes the new standard in child care. When every child is read aloud to for 15 minutes every day from birth, more children will be ready to learn when they enter kindergarten, more children will have the literacy skills needed to succeed in school, and more children will be prepared for a productive and meaningful life after school. For more information, visit: readaloud.org.