THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN OPTIMIZING CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN GOLDEN AGE PHASE

Abstract

Basically, parents play an important role in assisting and guiding children's language development because parents, especially mothers, are the closest person to children. Mother and child have communicated since the child was in the womb until he was born. The stage from when a child is born until a child can speak is the most important stage in the language acquisition period. This stage is called the golden age phase. This article aims to describe the stages of children's language development and the role of parents in each stage through literature reviews or literature studies. The stages of children's language development from several theories are synthesized into seven stages of children's language development. The role of parents in every stage is inviting children to talk, reading stories, inviting them to play, introducing objects, inviting them to public places, playing music, inviting them to read stories, showing pictures and objects around them, telling fairy tales, and introducing the people closest to them, listening and responding when the child speaks. Furthermore, parents are advised to pay attention and understand the stages of children's language development because the parents' understanding will improve the children's language competence and development. The final results of this study indicate that parents can play a role in children's language development through parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, making decisions, and collaborating with the community.