With the advent of smartphones, apps and games, real communication time between parents and their children are decreasing. In addition, parents nowadays seem to be more reliant on smartphone apps “taking care” of their children.
According to a 2015 research presentation by Dr. Ryuta Kawashima of Tohoku University’s Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), the amount of time a parent spends with their child greatly affects a youngsters development and language comprehension functions. The right upper temporal gyrus is one of the temporal lobes that is an important area related to linguistic understanding, sarcasm and metaphors.
Until now, various studies have shown that parent-child communication is good for emotional development during early childhood, but it also has a positive effect on the development of a child’s brain. In this study, 250 children between the ages of 5 and 18 were analyzed for changes in brain structure using intelligence tests and MRI images.
It was found that longer parent-child communication time showed a higher language understanding index, and a survey three years later revealed that the language comprehension index was also higher.
As children grow older, they may be more enthusiastic about smartphones and games, and time spent communicating between parents and children tend to decrease over time. However, for the growth and benefit of a child’s brain, it is important for parents to spend time with their child and to make time for conversations.