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Education > Early Childhood > My Granddaughter's Speech
 

My Granddaughter's Speech



From the moment my first grandchild was born recently, I have found myself obsessing over her speech or, more exactly, the prospect of her future speech. It is important to me that she grow up learning how to manipulate the English language properly and expertly, that she not inject the word “like” into every pause, and that she completely understand the social imperative of well-wrought words.
Babyologists tell us there are various and distinct periods of oral progress in a baby’s life, aside from sucking on their toes, I mean. The First Preverbal Period is in the womb, of course, a time the pro-choice people more pointedly prefer to call the Gestation Period. Once they enter the world, the Second Preverbal Period ensues. Speaking over the phone to my daughter the other day, I could clearly hear my granddaughter in the background speaking to me. “Can you hear her?” my excited daughter asked. “Say hello to Grandpa.” The baby responded appropriately: “Gah, gah.”
Once I hung up, I decided that at my next opportunity I would have to speak to my daughter and her husband about the daily importance of the word choices that they are going to be making in the presence of my granddaughter. It is, after all, from them that she will be learning to talk. “Wha’s that?” my granddaughter will say, pointing at something that has caught her eye. The response here is crucial, irrespective of the object of her attention, for it will set in motion a lifetime reference, an indelible impression to which she will continually return as she grows older.
Back when my daughter was born, everyone feared that my annoying habit of using profanity around the house would have this terrible impact on our child. I dutifully promised friends and family alike that I would make an effort to stop. Then, with our toddler daughter standing nearby as my wife cooked breakfast, a raw egg fell, cracking open upon my wife’s bare foot. “Shit,” she thoughtlessly exclaimed. “Shit,” mimicked our daughter. I know that I should never have laughed, but I just couldn’t help it. My daughter spent the remainder of the morning, her ear now attuned to a new word and the fact that it had obviously pleased her father, running around the house in her loose diaper saying “Shit, shit” and laughing hilariously. She had no earthly idea what the word meant, of course, but it was easy to say and had made daddy laugh.
My daughter, now the Mom herself, has to take serious stock in the significance, for my granddaughter, of dropping such verbal eggs. The child’s verbal skills are at stake, after all. There will be instances when exactitude will be demonstrably necessary so that “stuff” and “things” do not creep insidiously into my granddaughter’s speaking world. Once the Second Preverbal Period has ended and the Preschool Verbal Period has commenced, my daughter is going to realize that she is having difficulty keeping up with the constant and sometimes interruptive need my granddaughter will have to increase her nascent vocabulary. But this challenge will be nothing compared to what will happen in the Elementary Education Period. The pediatrician may be able to inoculate her against various common childhood diseases, but what does one do about infectious poor speech? “Where did you learn that word, Sweetie?” “That’s what Meagan always says.” Oh, that’s just great!
It will be providing a pattern of thoughtful attention to my granddaughter’s emergent verbal requirements that will set the precedent for her future acceptance of this critical aspect of her life, not to mention establishing the verbal skills foundation for her eventual run for the presidency in 2064.

posted on Oct 4, 2012 1:42 PM ()

Comments:

I wouldn't worry about the odd curse word. If you have a good relationship with her as she grows, you can teach her some interesting words. I still remember a 4-year-old I took care of who used the word "evidently" all the time, and correctly. It was nice.
comment by drmaus on Oct 8, 2012 10:03 AM ()
That's neat. I'm looking forward to teaching her "oxymoron."
reply by steve on Oct 8, 2012 12:41 PM ()
My father was an english major who had many of the complaints you've mentioned. We didn't like his obsession with language when we young, but all six of us are now very grateful for his vigilance in seeing that we had reasonable mastery of the language.

PS. I will earnestly strive to eliminate the words "stuff" and "things" from any future blogs. It will be hard, as I'm at a loss to describe all the stuff and things in any other way. Ideas?
comment by maggiemae on Oct 7, 2012 9:10 AM ()
My suggestion... all "stuff" and "things" have names, or if the term is being used as a substitute for "etc" often it can simply be deleted entirely. Once in awhile there's a cool word that can be hauled out, such as saying "...and all that other similar malarkey." But most often the best option is simply scratch it out. Being as terse as possible is always the best writing advice one can give. As 'Fredo would say, however: but what do I know?
reply by steve on Oct 7, 2012 11:54 AM ()
I grew up in the era before there was an obsession with just the right this or that for every baby. I was left to my own devices. I learned the language through listening to radio (before rap) and reading. I knew which words were wrong. Just give her books. The rest will take care of itself.
comment by tealstar on Oct 5, 2012 5:21 PM ()
She will definitely be a reader. Her mom was an English major; my wife was an English major; I was an English major. She'll get all my books, a pretty good library.
reply by steve on Oct 5, 2012 5:36 PM ()
I was not really surprised when I heard my near 3 yr old grandson say "damn it". A lesson for my daughter and SIL. On the good side, however, was when my grandson asked mommy to turn on the car radio to classical music! That's what Granddad listens to when he comes to visit. Never underestimate what kids pick up.
comment by solitaire on Oct 5, 2012 5:25 AM ()
That's so cool about the classical music!
reply by steve on Oct 5, 2012 6:06 AM ()
Given who your granddaughter's mommy is, I don't think you have to worry about her use of the English language.
comment by miker on Oct 4, 2012 7:24 PM ()
Yes, I'm so proud of my English major. You do the math!
reply by steve on Oct 5, 2012 6:09 AM ()
Congrats on the grandbaby!
comment by catdancer on Oct 4, 2012 6:18 PM ()
Her name's Olivia ... Livy for short.
reply by steve on Oct 5, 2012 6:09 AM ()
If you could manage to raise your expectations a bit you could take her abroad to a different country every summer so she'll be multilingual by the time she's ready to rule the North-American Union.
comment by jjoohhnn on Oct 4, 2012 4:50 PM ()
Her parents will have to do that... they have more money than I do.
reply by steve on Oct 5, 2012 6:10 AM ()
There is nothing as charming as emerging speech and nothing harder to
prevent than peer influence on language.
comment by elderjane on Oct 4, 2012 4:42 PM ()
I did not learn any language from my peers. When I graduated grammar school and we circulated our books for autographs and memorable sentiments "2 good to be 4gotten" -- I learned at that moment that 3/4 of my graduating class was illiterate. I was astonished. Why did I learn and they did not? I would guess is that they never went to the library. Furthermore, no one told me to go to the library. My sis and I discovered it on our own.
reply by tealstar on Oct 5, 2012 5:24 PM ()
Well said!
reply by steve on Oct 4, 2012 4:48 PM ()
comment by fredo on Oct 4, 2012 3:40 PM ()
comment by jondude on Oct 4, 2012 3:35 PM ()

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