30 Million Words

Why do some children in kindergarten seem to have a leg up academically and socially? Studies since the 1980s have shown that one difference maker is how many words they have been exposed to during the first three years of their lives. Children with a decided intellectual edge have heard as many as 30 million words more than their peers. 

From the time children are born, every sound, sight, and sensory experience shape how they will engage the world in the future. As the brain’s neural networks form in the first three years, the language children are exposed to has the most significant impact on how the brain develops. Children who hear more words in the first three years have enhanced executive functioning, better social-emotional skills, and greater academic success.

In her book, 30 Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain, author Dana Suskind explains why this is the case. She shows how parents can exploit the findings of multiple studies to catapult their children forward just by talking to them. 

She recommends parents learn to narrate their actions without simplifying their vocabulary or syntax. (“I am washing the dishes. Squeezing dish soap onto a sponge and letting the running water create a lather…”). By engaging their children with stories and narrated actions, the words quickly pile up. 

One of the mysteries of child development is solved and explained in clear prose in this book. As it turns out, the most important thing a parent can do for the child is to talk to them. The more words a child is exposed to, the better they learn. 

The ideas in this book are so important that every new parent should read them. Leaders often give the book as a gift to first-time parents on their team. Special clients and customers who receive it feel even more special. 

Giving this book to others shows that leaders understand what matters most to people. There is nothing more important to team members and clients than their children and how they develop. For new parents, this book is a game-changer. For leaders, it is a gift that keeps on giving.