How does one decide to raise a child one way or another? Sure, when the baby is still in the womb many decisions are made. We will cloth diaper! and we will only give him/her organic food, and baby will sleep in his crib every night, and the cat won't be allowed in the room AT ALL... I've heard many of these, my husband and I said many of these. Our child was cloth diapered until the diapers didn't work, he eats mostly organic and sleeps in bed with us. However, the one thing we have stuck to is raising him bilingual. I'd say that I speak to him in Spanish 95% of the time. Sometimes, as I am speaking to an English speaking person I will look at my son and say something in English. This happens seldom, but it happens and I feel very guilty about it.
Some of the reasons why we decided to raise our son bilingual:
Sure, you already speak Spanish...
It may seem that speaking Spanish to a baby is the easies thing to do, especially if one already speaks Spanish. I thought so too. I've been a nanny in the past, and I spoke in Spanish to those children as well. However, when I suddenly spoke in English to them for whatever reason I did not feel as guilty as I do with my own son. When he was born my mother helped me a great deal. She speaks Spanish only. She sang to him, talked to him and all of it in Spanish. When I hung out with him, my mind was overwhelmed with all the newborn caring stuff that I sometimes struggled to speak in Spanish to him. I felt silly often. I had to look up lullabies in Spanish to sing to him. Not that I was singing to him in English, because I don't know any lullabies in English either. It was a learning experience, as everything is with children. It was also a walk down memory lane. I downloaded a lot of music by Cri-Cri.
The reason it was so difficult for me it is because I speak in English to my husband and to everyone else. The only person I spoke in Spanish to before my son was born is my mother. I spoke in Spanglish to her too, which is not something I do with my son. After a year of speaking in Spanish to my son, it has become much easier. He understands commands like when I say "mano" to him, he gives me his hand. He knows what "agua" means, and often responds with "ahh" which is what you do after drinking water.
Music and Television
Television has recently been introduced to our son. Really only in the form of video. He watches the Baby Signing Time video and it is in English. I do wish it was in Spanish, but I couldn't find one. I have caught him and my mom watching telenovelas which are in Spanish. I don't know if I should be angry about this. I also grew up watching telenovelas. I just hope he grows up to dislike them as much as I do.
Music is diverse in our household. My husband loves jazz and hip-hop. I love everything else. I did download some music in Spanish that I grew up with, like Cri-Cri and Cepillin. However, I do listen to music in Spanish and so does our son. My mother listens to gospel style music in Spanish and so does our son. When it comes to music I think he should be exposed to as much variety as possible. Of course, we'll not allow Barney in this household.
I read somewhere that children's music isn't necessary. That children should be exposed to all sorts of music. Although I agree with the second part, I don't have anything against children's music. Like all music, I like some children's music and I stay away from some of it. When I downloaded Cri-Cri for him I mainly did it because it was part of my childhood and I wanted him to listen to it and enjoy it like I did. So far he likes "El Raton Vaquero." More on Cri-Cri on my next post.
Some of the reasons why we decided to raise our son bilingual:
- I am bilingual: I speak, read, and write in English and Spanish.
- Bilingual children are more accepting of others.
- Bilingualism is often biculturalism (more on this later).
- Bilingualism increases mental agility
Sure, you already speak Spanish...
It may seem that speaking Spanish to a baby is the easies thing to do, especially if one already speaks Spanish. I thought so too. I've been a nanny in the past, and I spoke in Spanish to those children as well. However, when I suddenly spoke in English to them for whatever reason I did not feel as guilty as I do with my own son. When he was born my mother helped me a great deal. She speaks Spanish only. She sang to him, talked to him and all of it in Spanish. When I hung out with him, my mind was overwhelmed with all the newborn caring stuff that I sometimes struggled to speak in Spanish to him. I felt silly often. I had to look up lullabies in Spanish to sing to him. Not that I was singing to him in English, because I don't know any lullabies in English either. It was a learning experience, as everything is with children. It was also a walk down memory lane. I downloaded a lot of music by Cri-Cri.
The reason it was so difficult for me it is because I speak in English to my husband and to everyone else. The only person I spoke in Spanish to before my son was born is my mother. I spoke in Spanglish to her too, which is not something I do with my son. After a year of speaking in Spanish to my son, it has become much easier. He understands commands like when I say "mano" to him, he gives me his hand. He knows what "agua" means, and often responds with "ahh" which is what you do after drinking water.
Music and Television
Television has recently been introduced to our son. Really only in the form of video. He watches the Baby Signing Time video and it is in English. I do wish it was in Spanish, but I couldn't find one. I have caught him and my mom watching telenovelas which are in Spanish. I don't know if I should be angry about this. I also grew up watching telenovelas. I just hope he grows up to dislike them as much as I do.
Music is diverse in our household. My husband loves jazz and hip-hop. I love everything else. I did download some music in Spanish that I grew up with, like Cri-Cri and Cepillin. However, I do listen to music in Spanish and so does our son. My mother listens to gospel style music in Spanish and so does our son. When it comes to music I think he should be exposed to as much variety as possible. Of course, we'll not allow Barney in this household.
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