Concerns about language and newborn

[Anonymous]

We are searching for an au pair to help take care of our 6 month old daughter, who is an only child. The issue we are struggling with is how much to prioritize English fluency. I've done an exchange program myself and would personally be fine helping an au pair improve her English, but I'm worried that it will impede my child's language acquisition. Has anyone else struggled with this?

[Anonymous]

How many hours is the au pair working? In general, I probably wouldn’t worry about it because if she’s working 40 hours a week with a six month old, your babies probably sleeping a fair number of those hours anyway.

2 to 3 hours per day of naps during the AP’s scheduled hours X 5 days a week=like 25-30 waking hours.
Most babies and toddlers are awake for ~77 hours per week, so the majority of working hours would be with parents anyway. If anything, this would give your child the opportunity to absorb the phonemes of another language at a young age so that they can be bilingual, but it’s unlikely to significantly slow down English language acquisition.

One thing I would do is introduce baby signs, since that can help babies who are bilingual to bridge the gap if they do speak slightly later. Not saying you have to go full on ASL, but having basic signs for food, water, milk, help, more, and all done usually helps older babies and young toddlers to be able to show you what they mean until they are able to say it clearly, And you and the AP can be consistent with the handful of baby signs having the same meaning in both languages (doing the same sign when you offer “milk” or when au pair offers “Leche”).

[Anonymous]

Nearly every childcare worker speaks English as a second language. That’s just reality in a city these days. I wouldn’t worry at all - what matters more is how often they speak to your baby (rather than look at a phone).

But you will want strong enough English that from day one she can tell you about the baby’s day, etc. With bigger kids, they could help fill in the story if the AP doesn’t know a word/phrase, but a baby obviously can’t do that.

[Anonymous]

I would have your AP speak her native language to the baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nearly every childcare worker speaks English as a second language. That’s just reality in a city these days. I wouldn’t worry at all - what matters more is how often they speak to your baby (rather than look at a phone).

But you will want strong enough English that from day one she can tell you about the baby’s day, etc. With bigger kids, they could help fill in the story if the AP doesn’t know a word/phrase, but a baby obviously can’t do that.

What?? Not true

[Anonymous]

Your child's brain will get wired for language acquisition if she is exposed to two different languages in her early years. Don't worry about it - your baby will learn English from you.

[Anonymous]

APs can’t work with newborns, infants birth to three months. Your child is 6 months old, not a newborn.

As to language, any accent, extra vocabulary and languages is all good.

[Anonymous]

I would prefer the au pair speaks to baby in their native language

[Anonymous]

We hosted aupairs when my twins were babies until they turned 10.

First, if this is a concern, there are plenty of native english speaking aupairs. Countries like England, South Africa and Australia all have aupair applicants who are with the major aupair agencies. If you would like an english speaker for your baby, there are plenty to interview.

However, if you choose to host an aupair who is not a native english speaker, there is some concern about the earlier days of language and your baby's first words. It's beneficial for your child to hear more than one language in the early days of development. It's shown to strengthen the ability to learn a second language later in life. Our aupair spoke minimal english when our twins were babies and strengthened her vocabulary watching shows with the twins which were on PBS. Sesame Street helped everyone in the house.
The biggest concern we had with hosting an aupair when the twins were babies was her inability to communicate during emergencies. She was from Thailand and could not recognize the number '9' so when I said, "dial 9-1-1' in an intense situation, she froze trying to figure out on the phone which one was the 9. She had the lowest english ability of all of our aupairs and I thought that was okay because she was basically changing diapers and feeding bottles all day.

English is always a concern with the aupair program because if it isn't language development and toddlers, it's worksheets for homework with a 2nd grader.

We hosted mostly native english speaking aupairs after the first 2 years because it was much easier for all when communication went more smoothly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are searching for an au pair to help take care of our 6 month old daughter, who is an only child. The issue we are struggling with is how much to prioritize English fluency. I've done an exchange program myself and would personally be fine helping an au pair improve her English, but I'm worried that it will impede my child's language acquisition. Has anyone else struggled with this?

I’ve had my nanny speak only her native language to my child for the last three years (starting at 5mo) and if anything it helped her language acquisition in both English and that language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are searching for an au pair to help take care of our 6 month old daughter, who is an only child. The issue we are struggling with is how much to prioritize English fluency. I've done an exchange program myself and would personally be fine helping an au pair improve her English, but I'm worried that it will impede my child's language acquisition. Has anyone else struggled with this?

Your child’s speaking skills will be delayed if a full time caregiver struggles with her English. See if your pediatrician has any experience or opinion about this issue. It’s critically important.

[Anonymous]

Just ask any adult who grew up with non-English speaking parents. It's fine! We are the only country that is so afraid of learning other languages aside from English.

I speak 5 languages now, went to Harvard, and grew up with a mom who refused to speak to me in English unless I spoke to her in our native language. I"M FINE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just ask any adult who grew up with non-English speaking parents. It's fine! We are the only country that is so afraid of learning other languages aside from English.

I speak 5 languages now, went to Harvard, and grew up with a mom who refused to speak to me in English unless I spoke to her in our native language. I"M FINE!

Hard agree. What seems to be more detrimental to this infant is provincial parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just ask any adult who grew up with non-English speaking parents. It's fine! We are the only country that is so afraid of learning other languages aside from English.

I speak 5 languages now, went to Harvard, and grew up with a mom who refused to speak to me in English unless I spoke to her in our native language. I"M FINE!

One would think a Harvard education would have provided better reading comprehension. OP says nothing indicating any fear of her child learning multiple languages. On the contrary, she would welcome it having been a foreign exchange student herself.

She’s asking, however, if her child’s English speaking skills might be delayed if a daytime caregiver is struggling to speak English to the baby. Surely you know that little children who are learning multiple languages at the same, will have delayed acquisition of their “mother” tongue, whichever language that may be.

Btw, I’m also multilingual, as is all of my family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are searching for an au pair to help take care of our 6 month old daughter, who is an only child. The issue we are struggling with is how much to prioritize English fluency. I've done an exchange program myself and would personally be fine helping an au pair improve her English, but I'm worried that it will impede my child's language acquisition. Has anyone else struggled with this?

Your child’s speaking skills will be delayed if a full time caregiver struggles with her English. See if your pediatrician has any experience or opinion about this issue. It’s critically important.

This. It's not just English fluency. You want a talkative caregiver who is happy to babble on and narrate to your baby, sing a lot, and take the baby to the library for storytime for language exposure or other appropriate activities. A quiet caregiver who doesn't speak at all to a baby will certain retard language development. It's not forever, probably only a few months later. But the daytime caregiver will have an impact, even if you chatter away at the baby when you get home. This wouldn't happen in a daycare because of multiple caregivers and kids around.

But one baby and one AP at home most of the time? Yes, it could impede language acquisition.