Too Small to Fail recently teamed up with well-known moms Amanda Peet, Jennifer Garner, Kelly Rowland, Salma Hayek, Lisa Ling, and Lena Headey to help raise awareness of the importance of talking, reading, and singing to young children to boost early language and brain development.
The video PSAs were released in partnership with BabyCenter, the #1 pregnancy and parenting digital destination, reaching more than 40 million moms around the world each month.
The videos were produced and directed by Jay Feather and Stephanie Laing of Good Content, Inc., as part of Too Small to Fail’s “Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing” campaign. Talking is Teaching engages parents, community organizations, pediatricians, business owners, faith-based leaders, librarians, executives, writers, producers, and others to help empower and inspire parents to make the most of everyday moments that promote their young children’s early language development.
Over the past year, Too Small to Fail has worked with partners such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Univision, and local community leaders in the cities of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Oakland, California, where Too Small to Fail has launched local “word gap” campaigns. Too Small to Fail has also met with executives, writers, and producers on the benefits of talking, reading, and singing to boost young children’s brain and language development. This has led to content integrations with shows such as Orange is the New Black and The Fosters.
In releasing with BabyCenter, these PSAs and important early language development resources will reach millions of moms through their website and social and mobile platforms. BabyCenter will also exclusively feature unique content from Amanda Peet on The BabyCenter Blog.
As part of the release of these PSAs, Too Small to Fail will aim to engage parents on Twitter and Facebook to share how they spend time talking, reading, and singing with their infants and toddlers using the hashtag #TalkingIsTeaching. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to share a brief tip or video of themselves talking, reading, and singing with their child on social media throughout the week of May 4-11. Too Small to Fail will award one lucky contributor each day with a “Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing” tote bag, which includes baby clothing and materials designed to encourage parents and caregivers to talk, read, and sing to their children from birth.
Research demonstrates that the first three years of a child’s life are critical for early brain development. From the moment children are born, they begin to learn about the world around them. Every sound, every sight, every touch, every spoken word helps the brain develop. Research also shows that children from lower-income families typically hear 30 million fewer words addressed to them by age 4 than higher-income children. Generally, children from low-income families have acquired 500 words by the age of 3, compared to 700 words for children from a working-class family and 1,100 for children from a higher-income family. Research also shows that this gap in hearing words translates directly into a gap in acquiring words – which can have longstanding effects on a child’s school achievement and lifelong success. Fortunately, studies show that simple actions like talking, reading and singing to children every day from the earliest weeks, months, and years of life can have a lifelong positive impact on children’s development and learning.
For more information about “Talking is Teaching; Talk Read Sing,” visit www.talkingisteaching.org.
