​The ​More We Talk… The Less They Learn.

If children learned primarily through listening, child behavior ​experts would go out of business.

Adults talk on and on to children, thinking they're teaching them how to behave. But most of what is said goes in one ear of a child and out the other. Children learn mainly by doing and by experiencing the results of what they have done. For example, they are much more likely to learn and understand why they should wear a coat on a chilly day because putting one on made them warm when they were cold than because they heard countless warnings from their parents about catching cold if they don't.

Another reason excessive talking doesn't translate to child learning is because children don't understand adult language as well as we think they do. For instance, children have difficulty seeing that two things that don't look alike can be similar. Adults can easily tell that a birthday cake and a loaf of bread have similarities (e.g., both are made with flour, both have been baked) while young children usually cannot. So telling a toddler he is being disciplined for a misbehavior that is "just like" a misbehavior that got him in trouble last week may confuse him because he doesn't understand they are similar. All he knows for sure is that his mom or dad is mad at him — again.

Another kind of adult talk that can get in the way of a child learning involves time-based concepts. For example, a dad who learns that his toddler daughter is having behavior problems at day care may try to tell her she won't do well in kindergarten if she keeps acting that way. But a toddler can barely think about what's going to happen the next day let alone something that is months or years away. Using these extended time-based concepts to get through to a toddler usually goes nowhere.