I’m interested in how kids who come from poverty can break the cycle and get ahead for future generations. I’ve always assumed the answer lies in better education.

A recent episode of the Freakonomics podcast presented some eye-opening insights on the impact of early childhood education on a child’s ultimate success. If you have the chance and any influence on young kids, I highly recommend listening to this podcast.

According to the podcast, parents play a crucial role in developing a student’s ability to succeed in school. Dr. Dana Susskind, a researcher in Chicago, has studied this extensively. She says the first three years of life have a tremendous impact on how the brain is primed to learn for the rest of a person’s life. Parents influence brain development by interacting with their kids—reading with them, counting with them, talking with them, and modeling the right behavior.

If you’re like me, you might not know exactly what to do with a baby. I remember thinking how much I wanted my kids to get older so I could talk with them and interact more.

It turns out that interaction with kids from the day of their birth makes a huge difference. Susskind explains that the brain is largely undeveloped at birth, but 80-85% of it is built during the first three years of life—and it’s built through language.

A study from the 1960s found that children in poverty heard an average of 30 million fewer words than children in more affluent families. Consequently, the brains that hear fewer words develop differently than those that hear more. The brains exposed to more words are better suited for learning and success in school.

It’s hard to play “catch up” if those first three years are short-changed on the language front. If you don’t hear many words early on, you become slower at processing what you hear. When processing words takes longer, it reduces the time available for learning new words.

Susskind advises that parents can make the most of early childhood by employing the “3 T’s” with their babies:

1. Tune in – Notice what your child is interested in and foster more communication by focusing on their interests. This creates more engagement.

2. Talk more – Purposefully converse with the child even before they can speak. Don’t assume that because they don’t talk, they aren’t learning. The more you talk early, the sooner they will talk back. The more you talk, the more “expert” they become at processing language. The better their processing skill, the better they learn—for life!

3. Take turns – Establish conversational patterns with your child, even before they can speak. Notice what they notice. Comment on it. Acknowledge it. Stay in conversation.

Purposeful language development in the home is essential for every child to get what they need.

Here’s another important tip: screen time doesn’t help. Parking a child in front of a television with words coming their way doesn’t fill the 30 million-word gap. Words matter most when there is interaction and response. Screens don’t nod, verify understanding, or give feedback.

So, it’s something to think about. As kids come your way that you strive to influence for the long term, having a strategy in place is crucial.

Tune in.
Talk more.
Take turns.

-Howe Q. Wallace Jr