It’s almost ironic that today, in our visual society, a good grasp of language is the most important ability that any child can have. We lament the growing appeal of computer games, the continual increase in TV screen size, and the ever more accessible lure of the internet via iPads and the like. We talk about what this is doing to children of our generation, we think back to the days when we roamed the streets on our bicycles, and went for adventures in local forests. From then till now, the importance of understanding language remains a key skill of life.

Parenting

Good parents today know that their job is to encourage children back outside, to reconnect with nature and maintain a healthy respect and love for the real world. Great parents, know that they must also foster an ever increasing understanding and mastery of language. Why? Well, whether we like it or not, we are now living in The Age Of Information.

Yes, Vines are good fun. Yes, marketeers think of ever faster and more clever ways to make their audiences visually connect with their product. But let’s be honest. Most information on the internet is transferred through the medium of language and words, not visual aids such as videos or clips. Even those pesky marketeers, so good at pushing our “go” buttons, had to start with a good grasp of language. They had to sell their ideas to their bosses, bring their ideas to life in the minds of digital artists and film makers.

Communication

To find out about anything at more than a surface level, to share an idea convincingly with the never-ending internet audience, one has to know how to communicate using words. So yes, a great parent not only encourages a love of the great outdoors. They encourage a love of language and the importance of understanding language too.