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Things to Remember
Pay attention to your baby during play, diapering and feeding. Use your voice, smile, eye contact and body language to let your baby know you are listening to her and responding to her cues.
Encourage your children to talk about what they're doing while they're doing it or right after.
Try to ask your children questions that encourage them to think about their reply and share ideas.
Make mealtimes fun by encouraging your children to talk about what interests them, what happened at school that day and what they'd like to do the next day.
Show your children that books are important to you by reading yourself and teaching them how to take good care of the books you have or borrow from friends or the library.
If you suspect your child has a problem hearing or speaking, talk to her teacher or doctor to find out if she needs extra attention or treatment.
Things to Avoid
Avoid answering your own questions when talking to your children. Instead, be patient and give them the time to come up with their own answers.
Try not to dominate conversations taking place among children, except to encourage them to ask questions of each other that help keep the conversation going. Children learn a lot from each other this way.
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