This post is sponsored by Read On Arizona.

A few months after my partner Josh and I got married, we went to have dinner with some friends and their tiny son. I was pretty young (22! I know! I can’t believe I got married that young either!) and, never having been much of a babysitter, babies and little kids were kind of a mystery to me.

Our friends’ baby was probably 4 months old, and all these years later I’ve never forgotten how his mom interacted with him.

We were all in the living room, deep in conversation, when baby boy started whining a little bit. She immediately turned to look at him and started saying things like:

Friend: “¿Ah si, papi?”
Baby: Babble, babble
Friend: “¿Y luego?”
Baby: Coo, laugh
Friend: “¿En serio? And then what did you do?”

You get the picture. It made such an impression on me, the way she responded to her baby and had this big long conversation with him.

Even though the baby obviously couldn’t talk, it was such a powerful lesson to me that communicating is about so much more than words.

By having quality, back-and-forth conversations with our babies and toddlers just like my friend did, we can help our chiquit@s learn that eye contact, facial expressions, crying, smiles and touch are all great ways to communicate with us even if they can’t talk yet.

That’s why I’m so happy to partner with Read On Arizona to share the Smart Talk campaign, which is helping parents learn how to have these types of conversations. This is a great foundation for kids’ language development, and sets them up for success in school and in life.

Smart Talk is really easy, and you don’t need any special tools or training. Anyone can follow these five steps to have a meaningful chat that will help you raise a brilliant baby!

  1. Describe: Talk about what you’re doing as you do it. Tell your baby she’s going to wear a yellow shirt today as you put it over her head, or inform your son that you’re going to pick up that pea he just threw on the floor.
  2. Ask questions: Who just walked through the door? (The preferred answer at our house would always be Papá.) Where did baby leave her water? And then encourage your child to answer (coos and babbles totally acceptable—eventually they’ll turn into words!).
  3. Respond: A nadie le gusta hablar solo, so make sure you’re responding to your baby (even if that just means imitating his babble).
  4. Read: I mean, of course this is on the list, right? It’s the best way to introduce new vocabulary and spend a moment bonding with your child.
  5. Repeat: Teach your kid words by practicing over and over together. Echo what she says and let her know you’re paying attention when she speaks.

For me, it was so great to see all of these steps laid out. As a new mom with my first baby I really had to force myself to talk to her because I’m not a super chatty person naturally. But I always remembered my friend and her sweet little convo with her baby, so I did my best.

I love that this campaign is helping out parents who may not have witnessed such a great example of Smart Talk in action. And best of all, I think it’s so great to have this simple reminder of how easy (and how beneficial) it is to have meaningful conversations with our little ones!

Tell me, do you do these things with your baby and/or toddler already? Were some of them new to you?