Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/promoting-an-appreciation-and-celebration-of-our-differences/5027067/
Emotions Are Our First Language
Emotions are universally everyone’s first language beginning from birth; they are the key connector that unites us all. Globally, even before babies learn language, they respond to and communicate with emotion. Regardless of one’s race or ethnicity, the way each of us first understands the world and people around us is through our emotions.
Recently, researchers gathered voice recordings from parents on six continents, and in a study published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, they concluded that “parentese,” or the high-pitched, sing-song “baby talk” adults use when interacting with babies, is profoundly similar across cultures. The study underscored that sound is used to convey emotion throughout the animal kingdom. The researchers also found that the sounds we use with infants are used to communicate, soothe and teach—all foundational elements of emotional regulation and learning.
“Parentese” is one way that caregivers are emotionally attuned to and responsive to their infants, which is essential as 90 percent of a child’s brain develops during early childhood. During the first three years of life, the brain develops the fastest and is most malleable to being shaped and informed by a child’s daily interactions and broader social experience.
The earliest years are ...