90
votes
Accepted
My child witnessed a toddler being taught to cuss by older kids. How to deal with rude language at social gatherings?
All you can do is teach your own child.
It is never too early to learn that not everyone believes the same stuff, or even agrees on good behaviour. Your son will already have learnt those words at ...
- 1,297
89
votes
Accepted
Teaching my son a language he doesn't want to learn
Yes, I do have another idea.
Most sources agree that immersion is the best way to really learn a language. So bringing your son to a school where English is the primary language is a good start. ...
- 18.2k
82
votes
Toddler made "incorrect" animal identification that is actually correct. Better to correct her or not?
At most ages your best bet is to agree that it is a kitty, as they are the same - but stress that it is a big kitty; the lion kind of kitty. It is a much more positive learning experience to be able ...
- 26.6k
55
votes
Accepted
Toddler made "incorrect" animal identification that is actually correct. Better to correct her or not?
Overextension is normal
Overextension and related phenomena (including the opposite, underextension) are very common, even expected phases in language acquisition.
Some children call all four-legged ...
- 1,549
55
votes
How can I convince my child to write?
First, please know that I agree 100% with @David Hedlund's answer in its entirety. I just want to address one particular point that needs to be stressed.
His teacher says if this type of behavior ...
- 69.8k
53
votes
My child witnessed a toddler being taught to cuss by older kids. How to deal with rude language at social gatherings?
To forewarn you, some of this is going to be my own views, and they seem to differ from yours.
Swearing isn't a problem by itself
If I stand in an empty room and shout obscenities and no one can ...
- 737
50
votes
Accepted
Raising a bilingual kid. When should we introduce the majority language?
You probably need to get started on English exposure soon. At some point he wants to play with other kids and unless you live in a French speaking enclave, that will happen in English. I suggest ...
- 7,204
45
votes
Accepted
Do I keep my daughter's Russian vocabulary small or not?
is this approach going to help her build connection with a basic vocabulary
Yes
should I try to broaden it as much as I can and as soon as I can?
Yes. Progress the Russian and English vocabulary at ...
- 7,204
43
votes
Accepted
Should I correct my daughter's pronunciation of ballet terms?
My approach to pronunciation issues is simple: pronounce them correctly myself, but only correct my children when it's relevant (meaning, if they're saying something that's actually a different word, ...
- 61.8k
40
votes
Teaching my son a language he doesn't want to learn
Having been in a similar family position (as the child) half a century ago, it's possible he's a bit possessive of his mother, and associates your English with losing her full attention and regard. In ...
- 2,970
30
votes
Raising a bilingual kid. When should we introduce the majority language?
If you want a child to be truly bilingual, you have to start with both languages at the very beginning.
The important thing is the separation of languages. This can be accomplished in multiple ways. ...
- 409
27
votes
Too many languages?
Being parents of different "tongues" implies, in my opinion, an obligation to give your child(-ren) as much diversity as possible. I am not qualified to argue against linguists, but I see it as no ...
- 2,570
27
votes
Teaching my son a language he doesn't want to learn
You could ask him to help you learn Japanese better. In order to explain things to you, he will have to speak some English, while at the same time the potential reward of you speaking more Japanese ...
- 377
20
votes
Too many languages?
Anecdotal evidence: When I was living in Barcelona, my neighbors were a couple with a kid. The father was German, the mother was French, they talked to each other in English and the kid was going to ...
- 301
18
votes
Raising a bilingual kid. When should we introduce the majority language?
This answer is only from my personal experience raised in an only-French-speaking home/family/extended family living in the US. My father and mother both had a lot of siblings, and I had lots of ...
- 69.8k
17
votes
Should I correct my daughter's pronunciation of ballet terms?
I think you might be overreacting. As an French-speaking American, I can guarantee most non-French speaking Americans can't pronounce battu (and many other words) correctly, either. It's performing ...
- 69.8k
16
votes
Teaching my son a language he doesn't want to learn
I can give you a few data points.
The first one is my son, to whom I spoke French since he was born. I am French, we lived in another country at that time, but I knew we would be back in France (and ...
- 559
14
votes
Teaching my son a language he doesn't want to learn
The child needs incentive to learn. Only speak English and have great quality time with him. Go out together, cook together, have a hobby together, just make sure you're doing it together and only ...
- 1,608
14
votes
My child witnessed a toddler being taught to cuss by older kids. How to deal with rude language at social gatherings?
My oldest sister used to be a primary school teacher for very disadvantaged children in a very rough area. She saw it as part of her job to teach them to be - umm - less rough.
So often these ...
- 1,365
14
votes
Raising a bilingual kid. When should we introduce the majority language?
I think you are in danger of already having left this too late. Children learn language by making sense of what they hear before they start to speak at all. To be truly bilingual, and "accent-free", ...
- 241
14
votes
How can I convince my child to write?
If your child is 3.5, this is a bit young to learn to write. You could look at the Montessori way of learning how to write. They first do a lot of hand exercise (fine motor skills). Then they use ...
- 1,608
13
votes
Do I keep my daughter's Russian vocabulary small or not?
There is no harm in broadening the second language (e.g., Russian) vocabulary. Numerous studies have shown that bilingual and monolingual children have similar overall vocabulary sizes (see, for ...
- 5,158
13
votes
Accepted
My 3 year old son sounds incredibly racist, how to handle this?
...we live in a cosmopolitan city, and to an outsider, he sounds like the worst racist there is, and we have been getting some very annoyed looks.
I believe it. Especially with the divisiveness and ...
- 69.8k
10
votes
Too many languages?
So my question is, would my child be confused if I spoke Kurdish with
it and Danish to my husband and my husband spoke Turkish to the child?
As an adult, when I'm a 2nd language learner, I never, ...
- 900
10
votes
Teaching my son a language he doesn't want to learn
"Gamification".
We had a Japanese "wwoofer" ('Willing Workers On Organic Farms") staying with us some years back, and played cooperative scrabble - we all worked together to find the different ...
10
votes
4 languages... are we going to overload our child?
Most of the parenting resources say that it's easier for babies to learn different languages if each person who interacts with them stick to one particular language. I found this true from my ...
- 1,442
9
votes
Teaching my son a language he doesn't want to learn
Immersion is the most effective way to learn, and it sounds like your son enjoys watching television.
So my suggestion is to allow him a set amount of Japanese television per day (30 minutes would be ...
- 61.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible