How do you say this? And that? Would it be better to use this other verb? Can he understand me? Will he understand me? What if Im wrong? Isnt he too small? Should I still wait a little bit more?... And one of the questions that worried me the most: What will people think? My friends, my relatives, the people who see me on the street talking to my son in English without being native, what do they think? On the one hand, I have always said: It doesnt matter! I think it is something positive and I want to do it. There are thousands of opinions and you cant please everyone. But on the other hand... no one likes being criticized.
In particular, I was a bit worried about native speakers opinion.
I used to see on the street many native English speakers and it was then when I wondered how I would feel the day that I had to speak English to my son in front of them.
And that day came, and that day I didnt feel comfortable talking to my baby in English.
It was on a trip to Brittany. How beautiful, by the way! In one of the small towns we visited in the area of Concarenau I realized that there were many English speakers. We sat down to eat on the terrace of a restaurant and everything was normal until I realized that the couple we had next to us were British. I felt uncomfortable and did not want to talk to my little boy, I was very embarrassed.... The fear was mainly talking to him and making mistakes or saying things that would sound a bit strange to a native speaker. I gathered my courage several times and talked to my son, but when I did, I felt I could be judged. What nonsense!... but I couldnt help feeling it.
What would I think if I saw a person speaking to their children in non-native Spanish? I have never seen anyone doing it, but I would like to experience it from the other side. However, something that I have learnt since I am a mum, is that there are many different ways to raise our children and that they all have something positive and at the same time, none of them is perfect.
There are many ways of thinking. I think it is necessary to put ourselves in the shoes of those people that we are going to comment on in order to be able to do it with rigor, and even then, we will be leaving important factors that we ignore about their family or about their education or about their experiences. Our opinion will always be a bit biased and affected by our own experience. There is a saying in English that says: Do not expect everyone to understand your journey. Especially if theyve never walked your path.
I know these thoughts dont make sense. They are a waste of time and energy. I know I need to be stronger and I have to work to improve my attitude and feelings for when this happens again.
Luckily my day to day speaking to my son in English is going great, I feel relaxed, I feel he is paying more and more attention to me and he likes to hear me speak and sing to him. He is still very small, but he is growing so much and so fast that I think he will begin to understand what I say soon.
Fuente: este post proviene de Lanonativa, donde puedes consultar el contenido original.
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