NEED TO KNOW
A mom was met with backlash after she posted a video saying she rarely talks to her baby
“Does anyone else like not talk to their kid or their baby?” she asked in a since-deleted TikTok
Many users pointed out that talking to young children helps their speech development
A new mom took to TikTok to ask whether it was normal not to talk to her baby, sparking a wave of criticism.
TikTok user mak_and_momlife posted a now-deleted video looking for input from fellow parents, and they did not shy away from sharing their honest thoughts.
“Does anyone else like not talk to their kid or their baby?” she began the video.
“My daughter is 11 months old and me and my wife spend most days with her together,” she explained in the video. “Today, it was just me and her all day, and I realized sitting at dinner that it was just quiet and we weren’t even talking, which she can’t talk about, but I don’t talk to her.”
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Stock image of a woman with her baby.
“Is that weird?” she asked. “Should I be saying things so she can learn how to talk? I make noises, I do funny faces, I dance, but I don’t converse.”
The video quickly went viral, with many users even screen recording and stitching the original clip to share their opinions. PresitgeTea reposted the video in its entirety, and many of the commenters were quick to call out the TikTok user for not talking to her little one.
“’She can’t talk’ how do you think she’s going to learn?” one person commented, quoting the user.
“It takes a massive effort to not talk to your baby,” another person added.
Other commenters were quick to mention the scientific and developmental benefits of talking with your children, with one adding, “Your 11 month old should already be saying words. Not full sentences but some words. Kids learn by you speaking to them.”
Diane W Bales — Child Life Program Director at the University of Georgia, professor, and extension human development specialist — strongly recommends talking to your baby, calling it “the most important step you can take.”
“Some parents feel silly talking to a baby who can’t answer them,” Bales writes. “But your baby is listening to your speech and learning from it even before he can respond with words of his own.”
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Stock image of a mom and her baby.
Other baffled users joked that they even talk to their pets.
“Girl I talk to my cat,” one user wrote. “I have always talked to my kids even when they were still in utero. How can you not talk to your baby? Poor kid. It’s one way you form a bond with your child.”
Since then, the user has posted several videos talking to her baby, adding more context to her original clip.
In one of the videos, she tells the infant that they “have to give the people what they want.”
“They keep saying, ‘Have you talked to your daughter yet?’ I never said I never talk to you, I just said sometimes it’s awkward,” the mom explains.
Read the original article on People
