I am always looking for obscure reasons why raising my children multilingually is a good idea. I guess the obvious reasons are, well, obvious and therefore somewhat boring.
A couple of days ago BK2 was playing with her dolls and soft toys. She usually lines them up on the back rest of the sofa. The actual order eludes me, but I'm sure there is one. Once they are all lined up, she looses interest.
This time though, she was parading down the line, telling every single doll and toy to "pay attention now."
I was surprised because I never say that and neither does the Babelmum. I was wondering where that might have come from... given that she said it in English, there were only two sources, really: pre-school or BK1 (who might have been told in school or at swimming lesson and might have passed it on).
The funny thing for us: in terms of approach to raising our kids, we never have to doubt the other half when our little ones say things we might not agree with. When they say it in English we automatically know it's something they heard elsewhere.
Isn't that a pip?
I have/had a similar experience with things my daughter says in BRITISH English (instead of the US English we speak at home). When she started talking about "tidy up" and "I'm going to be cross with you!" I knew it came from her UK preschool! Knowing what dialects your child is exposed to does help in compartmentalizing, as you say. :)
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