If you were on social media over the last couple of days you've likely seen the adorable viral video of a dad and his baby discussing a television show.

While the video is cute and funny, it's also a big learning moment for the child.

Donna, a speech-language pathologist at Horizon's The Moncton Hospital, explains why engaging in conversation with babies is so important:

As a speech-language pathologist, teaching parents about pre-language development is an integral part of our job. This video is such an excellent example of those early communication skills in action!

This baby may not be using real words yet but he is certainly communicating with his dad by gesturing, looking at his father, pointing and taking his conversational turn. These are the necessary building blocks he will need for the development of verbal language.

His dad is doing an excellent job of maintaining the conversation by attending to his son, using gestures and modeling the flow of back-and-forth dialogue.

Engaging in conversations with your child will not only help stimulate these early language skills, it will also create a strong bond between parent and child. Keep up the great work dad!

Take Donna's advice and engage in conversations with your child at an early age!