Saturday, July 26, 2008

What Children Really Hear

The only time my house is quiet is when the kids are asleep. When they are awake, you could say they make noise non-stop. Well, this one afternoon I hear my son yelling...

KokoD: Chow-chow pou chee
Mommy: What's that?
KokoD: Chow-chow pou chee. Old newspaper!
Mommy: NO LAH! It's "sau kow pou chee".

Translation:
"Chow-chow" means "smelly" in chinese. "Pou chee" is newspaper. So what my son is saying is "smelly newspaper."
"Sau kow pou chee" is what you hear on the loud speaker from the vans that come around to collect old newspapers for recycling and it basically means "collecting old newspapers."

But as you can see, my son decided he liked his version better.

Mamas Parenting Tip:
1. Children like to imitate what they hear. Be careful what you say. Keep your language clean. Listen to your children closely to know what they have been exposed to.
2. Sometimes, what you tell your children is different from what they hear. Check for understanding by asking them to repeat what you just said.

7 comments:

  1. oh...i cant agree more...they pick things up really quickly...and i had a hard time correcting my girl at one stage...as she picked up a lot of incorrect english grammar from my helper...but now she is much better..able to differentiate it. thank god!

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  2. Ya they learn fast but have a hard time to correct their words too. My gal pronous open aas OPUN, lotion she will say SHAMPOO *fainted*

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  3. ya i agree... they are really fast in picking up things....I can see even my 9 month old trying to imitate the tones...

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  4. I totally agree, just forwarded this link over to my cousin who is a father to be soon!

    Marcia
    Swingsets

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  5. Yes, I also agree...... my son who is going to be 2 years old next months will imitate whatever we say especially words that we don't encourage them to use.

    Eg. He used and currently still using this phrase "No way!" whenever we want him to do something. I was puzzled as to where he learn this from as none in our family used this word. After a story telling session not too long ago, I finally found out that he got the word from a story book!Huh!

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  6. I can realte to this. My 2 yr old love to sing the song "Country Road Take Me home" This is what she hears and her version when she sings "Cruchy road take me home to the place I belong Wait for Ginger and the Mama. Take me Home Crunchy Rd. I enjoy this and will laugh my lungs out each time I hear it.

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  7. contentedmom:
    Good thing you were around to do the correcting. Incorrect grammar is one worry. The other word be picking up inproper language.

    vickylow:
    Hahahah. When they are young, these mistakes are still cute.

    jaanvi:
    That's how they learn best, through imitation.

    marcia:
    Congratulations to the soon-to-be father. Hope he will have many fun times ahead. Thanks for the forward Marcia.

    cookief:
    That's the power of books. It expands their vocabulary. Hope you read more to him. But at this age, they like to say no. My son can't say "no way" but he very good at shaking his head. Grrrr! The spirit of rebellion has started.

    renet13:
    That is so precious. You can't help but laugh.

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