August 31, 2012

Matt's Dictionary

It was really funny to hear kids starting to learn words and speak. Yes there are some words that make them hard to pronounce resulting to their own words.  Just like Matt, he has some words that are really far from the original or what he is referring to. Here are some:

Badush – Sabaw (Soup)
Banos-banos – Labanos (radish)
Begi – Tubig (Water)
Corat – Carrot
Daper – Diaper
Jisa – Jesus
Kayabo – Kabayo (Horse)
Kinan na – Kakainin kita (I will eat you)
Kikacol – Alcohol
Milkiyuk – Milk
Musta-musta – Mustasa (mustard green)
Ninit – Mainit (hot)
Papol – Pineapple
Shurt - Church
Silas – Tsinelas (Slippers)
Timpa – Timpla

I learned that in kids’ early stage of language development, they just imitate what they hear but don’t know the exact meaning. In such cases, kids should be reminded of what are the bad words that they should not come out of their mouth. Furthermore, try to avoid saying bad words in front of them because as parents, we are their role model. When they hear something from us, they will think that it was alright to deliver such words.

This is very important because kids at the age of 18-24 months were already starting to enhance their vocabulary so better watch your language. Also, when they speak bad words, please don’t laugh at them. They will mistakenly realize that it will be alright to say it repeatedly because they will make you laugh on it.

I am somewhat worried about Matt. Whenever he wants to get our immetdiate attention, he will say the “ogag” word while smiling at us but I know he does not know the meaning of this word yet. Maybe he just heard it from us one time and also, it is because in this manner he will immediately get our attention. We just keep on saying to him that it is bad word. Giving physical punishment is not yet advisable.

I also learned that if you want for your kids to talk straight, you should not use baby talk when communicating with them. Sometimes, this makes them hard to speak correctly.  When they are telling something in their “own language”, you must repeat it with the right words in a confirmatory manner.

Let’s say for Matt, before he used to say “Mommy/Daddy, begi.” Instead of repeating what he says, we will just reply, “Ah, tubig.” (Ah, water.) Now, he does not say “begi” anymore but will ask us "tubig" instead.

Furthermore, father will have a great impact on kid’s language development at the age of three. Fathers should have more time in communicating and introducing new words with their kids. So I think I have to give more time with Matt as early as now.

Matt is just 26 months old for now but he can already speak many words correctly. Some that will hear him talking say that he is “matatas” at his age which really makes us proud parents.