Post
by Zondrae » Wed Feb 08, 2012 2:32 pm
Go on, you know you want to,
blame the mothers - if not them then the teachers. And in both cases you would be right. I was, with my own three, (and my girls with their children are) a stickler for correct pronunciation. We did not fall into the practice of using baby talk. Even tough we allowed a couple of new words, that the children in question invented, generally they spoke so well that we often forgot that they were as young as they were. As I speak (metaphorically) my grandson, who will be four at the end of this month, has been able to carry on an intelligent conversation since he was barely two. The girls are ever quicker to speak well. I had one with a lisp. She found it difficult to say the sound of combined letters eg 'ch' and 'sh' and also 's'. The sentence "this is the way to church" would have been a nightmare. However with persistent gently correction she had overcome it by age seven.
I can recall having a discussion with one of them (then aged three) in which she won the debate. I have often said, I did not win an argument with her from that day on. When she was at that difficult age (you know from 3 to 23) I had to resort to the "I am the mother and I said!" to finalise a debate.
Zondrae King
a woman of words