Reply to Mom speaking to child in another language during playdate

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "Mom speaking to child in another language during playdate"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I only speak English but DH and most his family are bilingual. At gatherings, if a few people are commenting back and forth in their language my MIL always makes a point to give a little translation like “they are fighting about the game again” and often will give a pointed look at which point her sons usually switch to English. I don’t mind not knowing but it’s clear that she finds it rude and I do notice and appreciate her efforts to include me.

[/quote]

I think if 2 adults in a group of adults are speaking a different language to each other it’s rude. I think of one of the adults turns and addresses his or her child in a different language , it’s not rude. Seems different. The child isn’t part of the conversation and no one is being excluded. A parent making an aside to his or her child is assumed to be more private - in fact I’d consider it rude if I made a quiet aside to my child and then someone else interjected or commented. Like, I’m addressing my child not you. [/quote]

It's also different because the parent is trying to raise their child, which they have every right to do.  In a group of several adults, no one is trying to raise anyone.  A child is only communicating with their parent, not the rest of the group, and you are quite correct that no one else needs to share a conversation between a parent and a child.[/quote]

This is it in a nutshell. Some people are too nosy or paranoid and think every conversation in a foreign language is malicious gossip or something. Anyway, once the kids hit the double digits, they just want to speak English and will reply in English, regardless of what language the mom is nagging them in. IME these conversations are usually just the mom nagging the kid about something and nothing interesting or worth eavesdropping on. If OP is so concerned, she can record them and upload audio files into translation software.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics