A 2020 New Year’s Wish
Give Our Children the Words They will Need to
Save the Planet
Scientists predict that in 2050 nine major cities will be under water due to climate change (think New York, Los Angeles, Singapore). What we need to do now is prepare todays one-year-olds, who will be 30 years old in 2050, to have the problem-solving skills and confidence to fix the environment we have failed to fix for them.
Moms, home visitors and childcare professionals, can prepare our children and grandchildren to save the planet by giving them the gift of words now. Infants are motivated and biologically primed with millions of language neurons needing adults to nurture them. They are the perfect age to learn every easy or hard word an adult can teach them. So, talk more, listen to babies who are trying to learn to talk, and give toddlers the language to make small decisions so that they have the words they will need to solve the very big problems when they grow up.
