We can all play a part in helping kids succeed in school, and get this: it’s as easy as talking. That’s it. Making sure young kids have the vocabulary they should means talking to them constantly: pointing out a ball or a dog or a balloon at every turn.

The “word gap” between low-income and high-income children is attributed to low-income kids not hearing as many words in their lifetime. By the age of three, low-income children have heard millions of fewer words than their high-income peers, which means they aren’t even given a chance to learn them in the first place. Isn’t it great that you can help any child in your life by simply talking about anything and everything around you?

Why does vocabulary matter so much? Because we are focused on giving every child in King County an equal chance to succeed and vocabulary is one part of it. That’s why we’ve invested in the Parent-Child Home Program and are now reaching 1,000 kids like Hanan this year.

Check out more about how this program works and why we do it.