Talking point

No matter how busy your personal and professional commitments keep you, do remember to have elaborate conversations with your kids, for parents who use conversational style with their children, contribute to their emotional and mental well being, a study conducted at the University of Illinois has found.

Conversational style of upbringing kids, which includes drawing them out to elicit detailed memories about past shared events and to talk about emotions, contributes to the child’s secure attachment, sense of self-worth, and eventual social competence, according to the new study.

After conducting the research, the study confirmed that mothers of securely attached children use a more elaborate conversational style as compared to that of insecure children.

"As soon as children start talking, parents develop conversational patterns with their kids, and different parents have very different patterns," Kelly K. Bost, a University of Illinois associate professor of human development, said.

"In elaborate conversations, parents provide rich detail and lots of background information and try to get their child to provide new information from his memory as the conversation goes on," Bost added.

Experts believe that detailed conversations aid in memory development, foster the ability to organise and tell personal stories, and promote a sense of shared history with the parent.

"These conversations are much easier and more evident in secure parent-child relationships in which parents are sensitive to their children’s communication. Children are also more likely to participate in the conversation," Bost said.

"And a secure parent-child relationship also provides a framework for future relationships with peers and romantic partners," she added.

According to researchers, parents should try to incorporate both elaboration and talk openly about feelings and emotions into conversations with their children. — ANI