The movie "Meet the Fockers" provides a very good comparison between varying parenting styles. Of cours it's a bit exaggerated as most movies are. For those who haven't seen it, one family is more "Educate the baby all the time" while the other is "Let the kid be a kid". Of course, at the end of the movie it becomes quite clear that both styles are relatively successful (if implemented properly).

One interesting point in particular is about speech and the way you speak to your children. Some people think that babbling incoherently to your baby is good while others think its improtant to talk to your children like adults.


Psychologists don't really help much in terms of which is the best way. They merely state that talking to your baby in a higher pitched excited tone keeps his/her attention on you. I guess you can talk to your baby like an adult or babble with such a tone.

My own parents always talked to me like an adult and I was always involved in conversations from a very early age. I've always felt that is very important. I'm also one of those people who find it very difficult to just sit there and talk about absolutely nothing at all. So our son often gets talked to about the events ofhis or my day.

His first word at 2 months? twas "Hello".

So which way do you do it? Do you find it better or...? Or do you use both at certain points in time when you feel it's appropriate?