Advice to expectant fathers #2: talking to her belly
Prenatal communication, otherwise known as very early childhood education:
Studies by Dr. Sarah Brewer and Dr. Brent Logan show that if you provide intellectually-stimulating sounds in the womb, your child may learn to talk as early as five or six months and to read books as early as eighteen months. Can your child do that? I’s all up to you.
In one study, Peter Hepper found that newborns whose mothers had watched a particular soap opera while they were pregnant stopped crying when they heard the show’s theme song.
“Like sands in a swimsuit…so are the days of our lives”
Five tips for prenatal education:
1. Choose your material wisely from the great classics of world civilization.
2. Set up a daily routine. Before each session, firmly thump your wife’s belly to let the baby know you’re out there. Give your baby something to look forward to.
3. Don’t overdo it. Sure, your child’s future success in life is at stake. But lighten up. One hour, twice a day, should be sufficient.
4. Don’t whisper. The sound has a LOT to go through. Talk to your baby loudly enough so that a person across the room can hear what you’re saying (and wonder if you’ve lost all your marbles).
5. And finally, as you speak loudly and clearly into your wife’s lower abdomen, Dr. Logan recommends that you try to overcome the feeling that what you are doing is absolutely ridiculous.
Based partly on The Expectant Father by Armin A. Brott
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