 After I gave birth to my baby, a good friend told me how important it was for parents to speak to their babies as much as possible, even if they didn't seem to understand. She told me that talking to my baby with love and patience could help his brain grow. I remembered what she said, and whenever my baby was with me, I would tell him stories and point out the things he seemed interested in when we were out walking together. In the evenings, when my husband came home, he would look at books with our baby, pointing things out and saying their names, especially the names of things our baby seemed to really like. We would make sure and turn off the television because my friend also told me that babies learn best from the people they love and not from the TV. Even when my baby was just sitting with me while I was fixing dinner, I would point and say the words for his favorite foods and all the other things in the kitchen. I would try explaining to him what I was busy with, and even though he never answered back when he was real little, I could tell that he was listening to me and learning. Now that my baby is older, I know that speaking to him a lot has helped to build his brain and make him smarter. When he got big enough, he started pointing things out to me and saying some of those words back to me. I was real surprised and happy when I started seeing the results of all that talking. Last week, that little boy graduated from high school and gave the school graduation speech. I was so proud and I realized that all of the hard work we put into raising our kids really does pay off. Being a mother is a big responsibility and sometimes it's easy to forget that our babies are listening and learning from everything we do. Even when we mothers get upset, it upsets our babies just as much. When people are shouting or fighting, our babies get stressed and that can stop them from growing and learning. My baby has taught me a lot too. When he was little, I would sometimes get tired or angry or sad. And I learned to stop and take a deep breath. I learned to ask my friend or neighbor if they had time to talk with me and help me out. To this day, when I get upset or worried, I try to find someone to talk to and it usually makes me feel better. Being a mother is the most important job in the world. We have the power to build people who will make the world better. And the best part is that they'll never forget their most important teachers.