Talk with your whole face

⏱️ 3 min📦 nothing needed🏠 in or out🤲 in your arms🗣️ Language

Parentese is also associated with exaggerated articulatory gestures and social affect: the wide mouth and big eyes belong to the speech style rather than sitting on top of it. The AAP spells out the same recipe — raise your pitch, slow your speech, exaggerate the syllables, widen your eyes and mouth more than normal — and recommends that dramatic approach with babies. Everything it needs, you already have on your face.

🧺 You need

none

Talk with your whole face

A forearm away, face to face

Hold baby facing you, about a forearm away — that's the whole setup.