This lonely mom spoke to her baby about life and everyone thinks it’s a brilliant parenting moment
A new mom is hitting two birds with one stone (figuratively) with her monologues to her baby girl. Alex Bennett, who goes by @justalexbennett on TikTok, is not the usual mom who speaks to her baby in the exaggerated, high-pitched baby talk most parents do. She is taking it a notch up by holding meaningful conversations with her infant daughter, even though the latter probably does not understand it. With over 1.4 million followers, Bennett is going viral for her extraordinary take on fostering a deep connection with her child and ruling out the looming loneliness in early motherhood.
In one of her most popular videos, viewed over 14.7 million times, Bennett strikes up a conversation with her daughter about her daddy’s birthday. Her baby lies with a big bow-tie wrapped on her head, listening to her mother talking to her as if she were an adult. “The thing about birthdays is the year you turn is actually the year you just completed, which makes no sense,” Bennett began. Her daughter, who presumably hadn’t said her first word yet, was trying to process the complicated speech and tone her mom was using. “Anyways, your dad likes chocolate molten lava cake, which I’m gonna attempt to make, but I got cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes for backup.”
Bennett’s monologue was of no proper context, as she jumped from one subject to another. However, they were all related to her husband’s birthday, and all the mother needed for the interaction was her little girl’s presence. Then, the mother-daughter duo reflected on the presents they got for him– two pairs of shoes. Bennett felt it was important that their daughter knew about the day’s plan and narrated how they would blow out a birthday cake and head to a steak dinner later that night. Hence, the baby was dressed in an adorable white outfit for the celebration.
The snippet captivated hearts, receiving 2.7 million likes and dozens of comments, with the mother’s approach to speaking to her baby. One person (@walker28264) wrote, “Her first word will be a paragraph.” Quite likely. Another (@looseygoosey_) joked, “She is such a good listener, didn’t interrupt once.” “Her teacher in 5 years will be like, ‘She talks all day,’” mused @mama_ev2.1. A viewer (@haleymahler) praised Bennet’s way of talking and wrote, “I love when parents talk to babies like actual people.”
Someone else (@jakole_0) pointed out, “She is more intrigued in your hand than that yap session.” A teacher (@mothergoose_1996) said, “Kindergarten teacher here. You are giving your daughter such a gift. Parents need to talk to their kids!”
According to the National Library of Medicine, parents talking to babies using big, complex words significantly enhance their cognitive abilities to process language and speech faster. By age 2, they would probably be using some of the vocabulary the parents used in their earlier years. Moreover, experts recommend this way of speech over the baby talk parents usually use because it simply enhances the brain regions responsible for speech and comprehension, per MIT News.
You can follow more of @justalexbennett and her baby conversations on TikTok.