The Department for Education (DfE), in partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched its Start for Life ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign. The campaign aims to educate parents about the importance of brain development in the first five years of a child’s life, and the crucial role they play, with advice and tips from Start for Life.
Too many children in the UK start school developmentally months behind their peers, particularly in speech and language ability. This gap often widens over time, particularly in disadvantaged groups, with children who have poor vocabulary skills
at age five being less likely to succeed academically. They are also up to twice as likely to be unemployed in their thirties.
By focusing on behaviours that can easily be integrated into their busy daily routines, the campaign aims to illustrate a ‘way of being’ to parents, showing them that sharing simple, child-led ‘serve and return’ moments together throughout the day has a big impact.
The more we chat, play and read with our kids, the more we help build their brains. Any time, anywhere, whether at home or out and about, it all adds up. There’s no need to buy lots of toys or have big days out. Wherever you are, simply chatting back and forth, answering your child’s questions and sharing special moments together all help their brain to grow and develop secure and
strong connections. Just what they need to get off to the right start at school.
The Start for Life website is packed with simple ideas from other parents on how to build these little moments into each day. It includes lots of examples of tips and activities for you to do together with your child at different ages, as well as links to find further support in your local area.