I am looking at my son lying in a hospital crib and coming to terms with the miracle that he is mine and my responsibilities towards him.
These are the thoughts that go through every mother's head and the longing to establish a close, supportive relationship

Dr. Rhons Stainthorp, senior lecturer at London University's Institute of Education, said there was no substitute for the human when it came to learning at a young age. Scientific evidence has shown how important the first four years of life are when approximately half of a person's ultimate intelligence is developed. These are years of opportunity to explore emotions and experiences through words and pictures. This is the time for the child to listen to language and produce sounds to express his feelings. These sounds are the building blocks of language.

The most important tool in the building process is the book. A baby sitting on his parent's or carer's knee looking at a book is learning about language, rising from the page each time it’s open. He is making the lin betwen the human voice and print at an early age. The story, and the telling of it is the key to the development of language and communication skills.

This process is aided by the national ‘Bookstart’ initiative. Parents receive a bag of board books, a booklet on the importance of reading and a placemat decorated with nursery rhymes at their child's nine month health check. A partnership between Booktrust, local public library services and health trusts operates the scheme.

Dr. Terri Apter, social psychologist at Cambridge University, says 'watching an infant and mother together is like observing a synchronised dance with a minute response from the baby and a matched response from the mother'. Books serve to reinforce the parent-child bond at the same time showing how language works. It is the answer to the question of what to talk about with an infant to keep us both interested and to develop their language.  The limited world of young children is expanded when books are introduced. They stimulate and feed their imaginations, they stir their emotions and encourage their curiosity.

We know from a recent survey, 'Young children's skills on entry to education' produced by the government's basic skills agency, that half of all children now start school at four or five unable to speak audibly or be understood by others, or respond to simple instructions or even recognise their own names.

This is thought to be the result of today's parents not recognising the importance of helping to develop their young child's communication skills.  Learning nursery rhymes with the child sat on the parent's knee has been replaced by 'talking machines' such as  computers,  TV, video and DVD which compete for time with talking and listening.

The early bonding developed through books and storytelling can be enhanced by the introduction of bedtime stories for the toddler. Books can be borrowed free from the public library providing a wide range of choices. The child's enthusiasm for a particular title or illustrator will be a useful pointer when considering which books to buy for your child to keep and read over and over.

The intimate experience of sharing books and their content can be extended to group sharing by visiting your local library for storytime. Look out for information on regular storytimes and other activities such as story characters visiting the library.