Dad goes viral for adorable conversation with baby daughter about fashion
Ohio dad Frank Aaron Brown struck a casual chat with his infant daughter while getting her dressed. An expert said he nailed the art of parent-child communication.
"We got two outfits — yay!" Brown told 4-month-old Halani in an Instagram video posted by his wife, Nikki Vera Brown.
The video, with more than 1 million views, showed Brown offering his daughter two wardrobe choices for the day.
"Look, you got some flower pants with the pink shirt or you can wear the pink pants with the ruffles on the butt. And it's got the 'Love' on the shirt! Look at that, it says love," Brown said, underlining the word with his finger while Halani gurgled in delight.
"You want to wear that one?" said Brown. "Yeah, OK, OK. We'll wear this one today and we'll wear this one tomorrow."
Brown moved onto accessories.
"Which bow are you going to wear? You want to wear the pink? Or you want to wear the tan?" he asked. "OK, we'll go with the tan. I like that. Not too much pink. OK, girl!"
With his daughter making happy noises, Brown added, "You got your clothes out. Where are you going?
After Halani is dressed in her “Love” T-shirt, pink pants and hair bow, Brown asked: "Do you like your outfit? Or are your pants too tight? I think these are one month too small."
In the caption, his wife wrote, "I love him as a girl dad," and commenters couldn't get enough:
"This was a full-blown conversation and they both understood each other. I was so invested in her choices."
"Great language development and reinforcement. I am a speech pathologist. Keep it going!"
"This is one of the main reasons why my kids were talking fluently so early. Everyone would say, 'You’re so lucky' but I never used baby talk. I actually had conversations, nightly reading and flash cards."
"She’s really having a conversation with her dad."
"This is exactly how parents should talk to their kids."
Brown, also the father of 3-year-old twins Hezeki and Harlem, tells TODAY.com that his conversation with Halani was organic.
"Even though I have twins, I'm still learning how to be a dad," says Brown, a member of the Ohio Army National Guard. "I just talk to my daughter and go off her reactions ... using sign language and facial expressions ... kids pick up on that."
Experts say Brown is doing everything right.
"This video is an ideal model interaction," Diane Paul, director of Clinical Issues in Speech-Language Pathology at The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, tells TODAY.com.
Paul praises Brown for taking turns in his conversation with Halani and responding to her noises.
"You would think, at her young age, that it wouldn't be necessary but he is (demonstrating) conversation," she says. "Taking turns means he is giving his daughter time to respond — and in fact, she does."
Paul points out that Brown takes their conversation to the next level by expanding on what his daughter communicates. "He imitates her sounds (as if) they were part of an intentional exchange," she says. "That indicates that he listened and understood."
Without knowing it, Brown participated in "child-directed talk," which includes using a higher-than-normal pitch that resonates with babies, she says.
According to Paul, talking about the present — in this case, Halani's outfits — is important to young children. "It forms a common focus which is ... a powerful first step in language development."
Brown's enthusiasm for their conversation keeps his daughter engaged and the variety in his vocabulary introduces basic and aspirational phrases, says Paul. Brown even introduced a concept of time to his daughter by indicating which outfit was for what day.
Paul points out that it's always the right time to verbally engage with babies.
"It's never too early," she says. "And it's never too late."
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
