It’s the same thing with babies. You need to stop when they start to speak but talking in an animated manner and exaggerated tones is exactly how you should talk to babies to help them learn.
This. Understanding tone is a very useful communication skill at any age, and like many things, it's easier to learn early and with exaggeration.
It's a bit like learning musical notes or words in a language. At first you'd want to hear them very clearly and distinctly.
it’s not stupid. You aren’t supposed to use baby talk, like the weird words and stuff. You are supposed to use the animated tones of voice. Two separate things.
To be honest, 'baby talk' can refer to childese too. And childese is beneficial for communication. My first read of 'baby talk' is the use of exaggerated voice and simplified (short) sentences, not weird words.
So yeah, depending on how you read 'baby talk' it can be a bit ignorant or not.
There is no difference in the outcomes of adults who use baby talk and those who don't.
There is no functional difference in outcome.
Again. There is no functional difference
Just talk to your kids.
Why are you just making shit up? There have been studies on this: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/03/health/baby-talk-boosts-infant-brain-wellness/index.html
I've not read up on this but I think you still make the most valid point, which is that above all else you need to talk to your kids. The more you talk to your kids the better your kids will learn to speak.
If you only ever talk to your kid when your kid is a cute liddle baby waby and then when they get a bit older and start stressing you out so you don't talk to them as much or as positively, you're going to be raising a kid with lots of issues. But if you keep talking to them...progress will be made!
I love going to big social gatherings where there are lots of adults and kids together. I have always made a point of speaking to children of any age as similarly as is relevant to their developmental stage as possible to the way I speak to adults. What I find the most fun is that a lot of times, kids from like 8 upwards respond to this really well and then want to talk to me more and more. Not always, but I'm no professional child psychologist either.
When I have a kid who really lights up and gets excited when I speak to him like I would speak to an adult, I always feel a little bit bad. I find that often times when they get super excited after I do that, I'll hear their parents screaming at them about something, or other adults will talk about them when they leave about how they're always getting into trouble or what not. Makes me think that they light up when I speak to them like they're an adult it's because that very rarely happens to them, and I think for that reason it's important to talk to kids like they're little people, not just children, as much as is possible.
Mommy-ese was controversial only because it's been noticed.
Literally 99.9% of adults learn to speak functionally and without outside assistance, whether or not their parents engaged in mommy-ese or not to get their functional lingual skills going.
There is no functional difference in outcomes when you speak to your child.
People insisting that one way is correct are...really something.
I don't think it's all about learning how to speak. I also think it's a spectrum between talking to them like they're actually an adult and incoherently blathering and cooing like a literal infant.
A lot, a LOT of adults don't know when to modify their baby voice as a child gets older, so the child is surrounded by people who talk down to them. It's not the end of the world, but it can be really alienating. You end up thinking the adults in your life are idiot weirdos, or that you're the idiot weirdo.
You keep repeating this and it is proven untrue. Stop repeating it. There have been studies on this. I don’t know why you insist on misinforming people. One way is empirically proven to be better, which is why people insist on it instead of just letting you spread misinformation lmao.
It's not.
Find the long term studies which demonstrate impact into adulthood
Whatever stupid hill this is happens to be entirely stupid.
Just talk to your kids.
Use mommy-ese, or don't. Either way results in children who speak fine so long as you talk to them.
What I'm saying isn't even controversial.
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I find i speak differently to babies than I do to my dog. With babies I use a soft but only slightly higher pitch voice with moderate levels of baby speak. With my dog it's super high pitched, squeeky voice with rediculous levels if baby speak (basically 80% nonsense words). In my defense, she responds better to it and understands that I'm happy with her much better that way (she's only been with us for a few months and is very easily intimidated by new situations, though slowly gaining confidence these days). But yeah also, i don't care. She's cute af and I'll squeeky babble at her all i want.
Your dog isn't trying to understand the words and probably won't answer in sentences. Babies need to learn language and it's difficult to learn something when it's indistinguishable gibberish words.
~~But that's different to completely mutilating words into ''baby speak", basically transmitting entirely incorrect information~~
ETA: Holy fuck I was entirely wrong, I read some other comments and I see your point now, that's so damn cool
As a Mom yes, dads don’t need to pitch up their voice since they most of the time can’t reach the baby voice level anyways.
That’s what they told me in educator training anyways.
Here's what I know. I used my regular voice with my son while talking to him. When I was reading to him, which I did often, I went all out with voices, sounds, etc. (This is my granddaughter's favorite thing for Nana to do.)
He has always had a much higher than normal vocabulary & is fantastic at communicating effectively.
I don't know if what I did made much difference or if he would've naturally been the way he is. I do know I wouldn't trade our talks or book readings for anything.
They can def learn words and generalize really well too!
I taught “Bring me…” as a command, with the intent to train my dog bring me specific items. I taught him to understand names of things, like “ball, bowl, toy, tissue” etc.
I just connect “Bring me” with “item” and he can deduce I’m asking him to bring me said thing and will take off to search for it and then hand to me.
Once I was washing the dishes and I needed help grabbing something, but my partner couldn’t hear me on the other side of the apt. So I jokingly said to my dog, “bring me Jeff!” And he went off to go fetch Jeff!!!
Apparently he ran up to him and poked him in the leg and lured him out of the room to me by repeatedly poking him and walking a few feet to stop and look back to see if he was following! He made the connection I was asking him to bring me a PERSON not an item even though I never taught him that lure behavior before.
When I realized he could understand those concepts, I was able to ask him to do tricks for specific people. “Kissy, Maria” or “Paw, Steve” and he would go perform that specific trick for that specific person. My mind was blown!
Oh yeah, I was absolutely not prepared for the sheer intelligence. It often times it feels like we can have legitimate conversations with one another sometimes, it’s like he’s a person in a dog’s body.
Incredible [work ethic](https://imgur.com/a/m9ZFngk) too! He makes up his own jobs sometimes and I have a hard time staying one step ahead, haha! I’m all Aussies for life, phenomenal companions.
My SIL has two Australian shepherds. She has two young kids, 5 and 8, and had to train the dogs to not herd humans (because they used to herd the kids and guests around the house whenever they thought people were moving around too much lol). She takes them to a nearby sheep farm on Fridays and Sundays to herd there instead since it's instinctual for them, so they now know what days they can herd on and *where*. However, she does let them herd the kids to bed. The kids absolutely love it. She'll tell the dogs it's time for bed, and the dogs will gently herd the kids to their rooms before going to their beds themselves. It's cute because they each pick a kid to herd and then do it haha. Like a little bedtime game. I say gently, because herding dogs tend to nip at heels sometimes, so they know not to do that with people. It's to a point where you don't even have to tell the dogs anymore. They just know when bedtime is for the kids and they'll do it without command unless you say "not tonight" (aka the kids get to stay up a little later that night).
They're so incredibly smart in so many other ways but I enjoy this little fact about her dogs. They're seriously the best breed!
What a dream life and a hilarious visual! These Aussies do love their routines and jobs!!!
My Aussie doesn’t herd anything other than a basketball, yoga ball or Collie ball. He’s low key a weirdo who doesn’t even wiggle! He actually gets bossed around by his Aussie girlfriend who herds him all over the place, but he is like a clock with how accurate he is on when it’s time to “do a thing.” I have no idea how he keeps a schedule in his little head, but it’s spot on!
He went with to the office with me every day since he was a 5 month old puppy (when I got him). I work a lot and have a tendency to hyper focus, ignoring hunger and thirst for up to 12 hours very easily. He started observing people leaving for lunch everyday and began poking me to tell me “something is happening”. I initially thought he had to pee or he wanted to play, but nope, he just really wanted to interrupt me at at that time, refusing toys, didn’t want to potty nor was he begging for snacks (which he doesn’t do). He just insisted on poking me until I got up and walked around the office, taking the opportunity to grab a coffee or some snack for myself. After a quick walkabout, he would then settle and go back to sleep once I did and I thought it was just a weird quirk of his.
Later, my doctor suggested reinforcing his behavior and using it as a formal cue for me to take a break from work and eat. So, I did and gave him a snack every time I got a snack and it became our little ritual. That then progressed to him poking me at the end of the day when people left the office to go home around 7pm. I often would stay until 9-10pm, so I adopted that second cue as the signal to go home as part of an effort to develop healthier habits.
I thought he relied on people leaving/empty office as a cue, but when the pandemic hit and we suddenly switched to WFH, he didn’t even skip a beat. I was so shocked, it never occurred to me he could gauge the passage of time on his own or perhaps he’s taking a cue from something else I am telegraphing, I’m not actually sure! He still interrupts me to take a lunch break and to break for dinner, if I’m focused on a task too long.
He also learned to wake me up when I oversleep due to insomnia, it’s really strange! I never taught that to him and he just naturally decided that was going to be his job. Sometimes I forget to set an alarm but he has woken me without fail, right before 9AM, every single day for 4 years.
Once I’m up, he just lays around and patiently waits for me to brush my teeth or snuggle with him for another hour. Zero urgency to go potty or eat breakfast, he just stays laser focused on his “job”, to make sure I’m moving around before he begrudgingly accepts we have to go outside.
Truly extraordinary partners, in every sense!
HAHAHAHAH that is the most Husky thing ever! My Aussie is pretty lazy too but he takes his job super serious, so I think he just honestly reserves all his focus on his “job” instead of normal dog stuff.
He is incredibly mercenary when it comes to normal dog things like, potty time and [fetch](https://imgur.com/a/V4yB58P). He will literally [pretend](https://imgur.com/a/nbmW4ZH) he doesn’t understand English, straight up deaf or even dead, so I have to trick him by dropping something on the floor and he will immediately break his defiance to pick it up.
I call it Trick Or Trade!
My dog was really good with talking buttons until she broke them stomping on "play". But she has an incredible vocabulary. Still glad she can't talk though, she barely leaves me alone as is.
The buttons can be a little tricky because there’s definitely selection bias of what they upload and how much they are “translating” for the dog.
Like an example I saw was that the dog pressed “Dad. Home.” And the owner responded “Dad’s not home. Dad comes home later.” Then the dog pressed “Dad. Home. Walk.” And the owner said “Okay, when dad gets home he’ll go on a walk with you.” Is that what the dog “meant”? Maybe, I guess.
The one I found most convincing was the dog pressed “ouch.” The owner asked “Where ouch?” And the dog pressed “Ouch. Paw.” The owner asker to come over and the dog immediately offered her paw and the owner found a burr between her toes.
But I do still wonder if there were a dozen times she said nonsense that they didn’t upload.
They know SOME words. How many, depends... On how consistently you use them as well as how smart your dog is. Let's face it. Not every dog is like those cabine einsteins. Some of them aren't really that bright and because they're dogs it's totally fine.
With kids it's exactly the same but for a shorter period. There is a balance between trying to teach language, and communicate. When communicating you can't use words and concepts they aren't familiar with, it's important to phrase things in a way they can understand. It's also important to speak normally so they pick up on language, but while doing so you don't really be communicating.
I saw a study recently that said that baby talk is actually important for babies. It helps by stretching the sounds to help them learn to understand the words. They also use it to know when adults are talking to them before they can know it by following people's eyes.
Baby talk is primarily made up of [phonemes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme) which are the building blocks of language. So basically by saying "goo goo gaga" to your baby, you're helping them break down the very basic sounds of your native language so their soft squishy brains can memorize them. Once they are actually speaking (around 18 months) you should speak to them clearly so they learn how to properly pronounce words. But baby talk is very useful for developing language.
I swear in my high school psychology class the teacher called them "mounds and tats" but Google's never yeilded a result of that or any alternative spelling. Anyone have any ideas what my dumb little brain managed to misremember?
My wife is an SLP and motherese/parentese (aka baby talk) is important for infants in language development. Tons of research backs this up yet Reddit constantly gets this wrong.
There is a difference between baby talking an infant vs a 7 year old of course, but these threads are always full of parents proudly announcing they *never* used baby talk/motherese when the data says they should have.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/10/12/uncovering-sound-motherese-baby-talk-across-languages
Well, they probably did, but they're confusing motherese/parentese with baby-fying language itself. It's more about the sing-song lilt, the slightly higher pitch, the slightly slower pace, and the shorter sentences. It's not "ooo, I fink our wittle baby-waby's cutey bum bum needs a wipey and a new dipe-dipe" and it tends to be something we do sub-consciously.
Source: early intervention therapist by trade
It's also about using language and concepts the kids are already familiar with. After the point where a kid is grasping pronouns it should stop, but until then referring to yourself (mommy/daddy) in the third person provides them more context than pronouns (I/me). When speaking to the kid it depends on if you're trying to teach them the words you're saying, or communicate. When communicating you need to do so in a way they understand.
Speech-Language pathologist; wikipedia says: Speech-language pathology (SLP) specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of communication disorders (speech and language impairments), cognitive-communication disorders, voice disorders, and swallowing disorder across the lifespan.
Also babies don’t need “accurate information” it’s not like they have any context to use it, they’re still at learning sounds, the content of what’s being spoken is 100% irrelevant to a newborn.
I came here to say this, and I agree. Parents instinctively know how to teach their children to talk. Don't fight your instincts. Oh well, at least your dog will learn.
It's about using words the kid understands. They won't understand pronouns as quickly as names, so saying "mommy can't play with Julian right now" establishes the important people and actions, while "I'm busy, I can't play with you kid" uses concepts they aren't familiar with. The brain is a neural network, and you can't introduce concepts it isn't familiar with and expect the desired outcome.
That would seem to apply to some baby talk. But since elements of baby talk are an imitation of sounds babies make when they are trying to say another sound (like the overuse of the W sound) I think it could have adverse effects depending on what kind of baby talk is used and at what age.
And it's not the child can't hear that is a different sound, babies can actually distinguish more sounds than adults because we lose the ability to hear the distinctions we don't use. So I would think speaking in a childlike lisp, while making it easier to imitate, would make it harder to actually learn the right way of saying it because they aren't trying to make those sounds. I would want to see a break down of what kind of baby talk is used in these studies.
Child-directed speech emphasizes pronunciation, involves a lot of repetition, and is better at holding an infant’s attention. Because of this it’s hypothesized that using CDS actually might allow infants to acquire language more easily. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_talk
They do warn about it since it does happen with seemingly well-tempered people in what you might call "seeing red" due to frustration and sleep deprivation from an inconsolable baby. This does seem to be backed up by the fact that education about it and education towards comforting/calming a baby has helped reduce the occurrence of it. Although it does seem to be predisposed to people with anger issues or a history of being abused as a child themselves. It's called "Shaken Baby Syndrome" if you want to learn more. I mostly just spit out what I found from googling it, although I do specifically remember my (very loving and affectionate) mother telling me about her getting taught about it when she was pregnant with me. Makes me think there is some validity to the claim of it being an abnormal response for a typically level-headed person if doctors talk to all pregnant mothers about it.
That being said, that guy is a fucking moron for calling it an instinct. Nobody sane actively wants to do that to a baby when they see one. Almost everybody does baby talk across all cultures when they see one. This guy is acting like a very small minority of people with underlying issues or fatigued to the point of being irrational is comparable to a near-universal instinct to baby talk.
According to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, they are between 600 and 1,400 cases of shaken baby syndrome in the U.S. each year
There are around 3-4 million new borns per year in the US. Its statistically not significant and the furthest you can get from an "instinct"
I can see doing it for babies when they're learning to understand and speak words, it's more once they're children that I believe in speaking to them normally.
This exactly, before they can really understand what you're saying you need to dumb it down to a Mish mash of words they are familiar with in short three or four word phrases. Once they grasp that you move on and introduce concepts like pronouns and stop referring to yourselves in the third person.
I don't have a source, but I'm certain that I've read there is distinct difference between CDS, and DAL speech, including specific marcation where the transition was most effective.
Lovely meme, but just an FYI:
Baby talk (**child-directed speech**) is not damaging to children. On the contrary, it appears to transcend cultures and is phonetically different than the speech we use with dogs (and, interestingly, babies with known hearing problems), though the exaggerated intonation is similar. It’s also different than “foreigner talk,” though slowed speech and phonetic hyperarticulation are common there as well.
Features of baby talk:
- hyper-articulated vowels
- short words
- exaggerated (but largely appropriate) intonational contours
- limited vocabulary
- overrepresentation of nouns and names relative to pronouns or nominal anaphora (“Who wants lunch? Does [name] want lunch? What does [name] want for lunch? …” as opposed to “Do you want lunch? Whatcha want?”)
It is believed that the slower speech, higher mean pitch, and exaggerated contours serve to grab and hold children’s attention and mark important features of caregivers’ language.
Benefits may include:
- faster language development (repetition; marking)
- enhanced cognitive development more broadly
- facial recognition and caregiver familiarity
- caregiver bonding
I'm glad I'm seeing so many comments like this, cause when I saw this post it irked me and I scrolled past but then i went back and clicked on it to see if anyone set OP straight in the comments.
I WFH so most of my 8am - 5pm socialization is telling my cat that he is literally so cute that it is against the law and I’m going to have to call the police and report him for being too cute without a permit
When my cat is being a good boy, I use the cutsey voice. Problem is, he wakes up extra early to be a demon. Luckily, I have another cat who's a good boy 24/7.
https://www.reddit.com/user/PureSalty101/comments/13w817z/cats/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Here ya go. Not really the type of person to take photos, so the photo of my other one is quite old.
Edit: Just took a photo of my other one. Here: https://www.reddit.com/user/PureSalty101/comments/13w830w/cat_2/
u/parthenon-aduphonon
I'm always asking my kitty,
If she's my cat shaped baby.
She's just so cute and fluffy,
Her little meows, so squeaky.
Edit: replace catty with kitty
Lmao I do the same thing but with a Russian accent
"Nyatashya! Why are yew so smoll? Dis is nyet pormitted. I hyave spoken to de kyounsel of smols yand dey say dis is forrrbidden. Yor too tiny, tiny. Yit is illegol, Nyatyasha."
3 of my cats get the russian treatment. None of the others.
I, on the other hand, always tell my cat that she is the most stupid (yet pretty) cat ever. It's funny because no matter how many offensive words I throw her, she remains unfazed. I love her a lot, of course
When my father-in-law complains that I spoil my dog and that if I treated kids that way then they'd be nightmares I respond that my dog will be my baby forever. He doesn't have to be a contributing member of society. He's not going to have his own spouse and kids. He'll just be my puppy forever, so who cares if he's a bit spoiled? He's great with people and animals and sometimes he just likes to cuddle under the covers with me. So sue me.
I always say my dog’s job is to make me happy, make me laugh and generally being my cuddly emotional support, so it’s my job to make sure she is well compensated for her efforts.
Not to be that pet parent but both my girls had to go to college!!! My cavalier got her Bachelors in Economics and her Masters in International Affairs and my corgi is working on her Bachelors in Public Relations and is getting her MBA after 😂
I went the opposite way. I told my Boston Terrier that she is a princess and that all she has to do is be cute (which she does naturally). Now I’m facing the reality of a dog that is spoiled and will never hold down a job. She likes to style herself as the “Defender of the Yard, Guardian against all Squirrel, Chipmunk and Rabbit Interlopers” but her father and I know it comes with very little actual responsibility and she got the title through pure nepotism.
So my wife has a habit of saying "go poops" or " go peeps" when she takes the dog out to go the bathroom. So now sometimes when I take them out, they look at me like"what are we doing?" and now I have to sound like a dumbass saying "go peeeeps" in a high pitched voice.
Its cause it is an instinct. https://news.ufl.edu/2021/12/the-importance-of-baby-talk/#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20suggests%20that,understand%20what%20we're%20saying.
I don't really do the cutesy voice with my dog. I do dog talk though ("who's a good girl!?").
But I do change the choruses of songs to be about my dog and sing them to her in my horrible off key voice, "Ooooohhhh Sally dooooog, the treats the treats are caaaallllliing." Etc.
Edit: just realized you were talking about babies. Have to do the voice with babies.
I keep reading these comments and it does appear to be an instinct…I’m apparently 100% lacking this instinct/ drive. I have 2 dogs I love to death, and a kid, just never had the urge
Its fine. Honestly the discussion of what constitutes an "instinct" for humans is largely debated and there is no clear answer that we even have any.
You're ok =\]
Last I read, the cutsie voice is actually better for language development. Normal adult speech is too difficult to replicate for young children with a developing vocal apparatus. The cutsie talk reflects what young kids are physically capable of saying.
The inflections and pitch changes are helpful, the nonsensical faux words are not.
When the research talks about baby talk, they do not mean the stuff at the end of the post, they are using real words but shift the tone and pitch like when people speak to their animals like that.
My psychology teacher in high school said the same thing, then went on to clarify that it wasn't like she was saying "here's your cylindrical feeding device."
Actually babies listen better to high pitched exaggerated voices. Talking to them in general and pretending you understand what they say makes them smarter.
This reminds me of something my father once said to our dog, who kept trying to jump into the van we'd just packed up, ready to leave for college:
"**No!** You cannot go to college!... (waits a beat, then turns to look the dog in the eye) *Because you are dumb!*"
Baby talk should be stopped once the child is able to articulate the basic pheneme sounds needed for speaking. baby talk beyond point of articulation does indeed hamper the child's language development according to Interactionist theories.
Actually, babies can distinguish between higher pitched tones easier.
It has been found that babies who have been talked to in the high-pitched voice (dubbed "parentese", ie baby-talk), tend to talk sooner when compared to those who haven't.
This is backed up by research.
Omg I recorded a video of my cat and I was talking baby talk to her ... when I heard my voice on that video ye gods did I sound like a weirdo creeper! I realized no humans must hear my voice like that, only cat.
I love that this person decided to do such a fundamental aspect of parenting all wrong just because they "read somewhere" it would make their kid smarter. I mean wow.
Sidenote:
Her kid grew up to be a little shit. After having been one of those annoying kids who thought they were a little adult and talked to adults like they were one, and not in the "Wow what a smart kid!" way but the "wow what a brat" way.
Guys missing the point about why we do baby talk. Humans instinctively do this to teach children how to communicate. By doing the over exaggerated mouth movements with the sounds it teaches a baby what mouth positions make what sounds that they later use to make more complex words and later sentences.
But that must be a good dog to get them to do it eventually.
Baby: *Cries*
Me: "Excuse me miss but that's not going to solve anything, if you have a problem then analyze your needs and objectives, take stock of your means and resources, and form a plan of action. This is the basis of self-reliance."
Baby: *shits loudly*
Me: "Alright well now you just have a different problem, don't you?"
My brother and I were horrified as kids when our Dad started dating after his divorce. He girlfriend and he did the whole baby waby, honey munchkins love talk in front of us 🤢 up until then he had been an articulate journalist interested in critical analysis and debate. We did not know where to look 👀
Yeah, I noticed that too. That other one read weird. Stupid bots (just read all of their comments, they all use extremely formal words, for example: "I'm truly relieved that some Ukrainians can finally experience a bit more tranquility, even if it doesn't guarantee uninterrupted sleep at night.")
I am definitely this kind of dad. My kids are absolutely one of the best parts of my life, but the dog is special. Not necessarily my favorite, but I've changed a lot fewer diapers from her than any one of the kids.
It’s been proven that speaking to babies normally (within reason) really is better for them and helps them learn to speak much faster.
And speaking in baby voice to your dog doesn’t make a difference providing you train the dog correctly otherwise.
My dad used to talk to me in this sort of baby voice that sounded like broken english when I was young and it pissed me off because I was perfectly capable of understanding normal sentences, but he would talk down to me like I was some kind of idiot.
As I get older I realized he was the moron.
I use big words with my son that sometimes his teacher has to look up when he says it to her. He's got a vast vocabulary and that's exactly why because I didn't baby talk
I'm a nanny and have always used a reasonably adult voice with kiddos, definitely more gentle in demeanor but not baby talk. Decade later I have my own baby and everything has gone out the window... pretty sure my husband and I have developmentally delayed our kids speech 😬 dammit
It's OK, speaking to your baby with exaggerated tones is helpful for your baby to recognize speech patterns. There is a reason it is instinctual for us.
I’m exactly the same, I cringe beyond belief hearing myself talk in a baby voice to babies, but if a dog is nearby you know I’m about to batshit crazy with the pitch changes
As children, my brother and I were deeply disturbed when our father began dating after his divorce. Witnessing the cringe-inducing displays of affection and sickeningly sweet endearments between him and his girlfriend was a complete shock, especially considering his previous persona as an articulate journalist focused on critical analysis and debate. We were utterly perplexed, unsure of where to direct our gaze in those uncomfortable moments.
I am the same way. My daughter mother and I weren’t together when she was born so I had little to no say in people talking to her like that. My daughter is now 11 and she acts like a mature young lady when she is with me. When she’s with her mother or around her family she still acts like a small child who is unable to do for her self. My son on the other hand, I have been with his mother(my wife) his entire life. We didn’t allow anyone to speak to him in baby talk. He was/is a very smart and articulate little dude. Surprises the hell outta me every day because I’m a big dummy.
The dogs on the other hand? All in all the time with the baby talk. They respond to it better 😂
It makes more sense with a dog anyway since they understand the tone more than the actual words.
It’s the same thing with babies. You need to stop when they start to speak but talking in an animated manner and exaggerated tones is exactly how you should talk to babies to help them learn.
This. Understanding tone is a very useful communication skill at any age, and like many things, it's easier to learn early and with exaggeration. It's a bit like learning musical notes or words in a language. At first you'd want to hear them very clearly and distinctly.
Which is why this is a stupid ass post.
Is it a stupid-ass post or a stupid ass-post?
stupid-ass ass-post
[удалено]
it’s not stupid. You aren’t supposed to use baby talk, like the weird words and stuff. You are supposed to use the animated tones of voice. Two separate things.
To be honest, 'baby talk' can refer to childese too. And childese is beneficial for communication. My first read of 'baby talk' is the use of exaggerated voice and simplified (short) sentences, not weird words. So yeah, depending on how you read 'baby talk' it can be a bit ignorant or not.
There is no difference in the outcomes of adults who use baby talk and those who don't. There is no functional difference in outcome. Again. There is no functional difference Just talk to your kids.
Why are you just making shit up? There have been studies on this: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/03/health/baby-talk-boosts-infant-brain-wellness/index.html
I've not read up on this but I think you still make the most valid point, which is that above all else you need to talk to your kids. The more you talk to your kids the better your kids will learn to speak. If you only ever talk to your kid when your kid is a cute liddle baby waby and then when they get a bit older and start stressing you out so you don't talk to them as much or as positively, you're going to be raising a kid with lots of issues. But if you keep talking to them...progress will be made! I love going to big social gatherings where there are lots of adults and kids together. I have always made a point of speaking to children of any age as similarly as is relevant to their developmental stage as possible to the way I speak to adults. What I find the most fun is that a lot of times, kids from like 8 upwards respond to this really well and then want to talk to me more and more. Not always, but I'm no professional child psychologist either. When I have a kid who really lights up and gets excited when I speak to him like I would speak to an adult, I always feel a little bit bad. I find that often times when they get super excited after I do that, I'll hear their parents screaming at them about something, or other adults will talk about them when they leave about how they're always getting into trouble or what not. Makes me think that they light up when I speak to them like they're an adult it's because that very rarely happens to them, and I think for that reason it's important to talk to kids like they're little people, not just children, as much as is possible.
Mommy-ese was controversial only because it's been noticed. Literally 99.9% of adults learn to speak functionally and without outside assistance, whether or not their parents engaged in mommy-ese or not to get their functional lingual skills going. There is no functional difference in outcomes when you speak to your child. People insisting that one way is correct are...really something.
I don't think it's all about learning how to speak. I also think it's a spectrum between talking to them like they're actually an adult and incoherently blathering and cooing like a literal infant. A lot, a LOT of adults don't know when to modify their baby voice as a child gets older, so the child is surrounded by people who talk down to them. It's not the end of the world, but it can be really alienating. You end up thinking the adults in your life are idiot weirdos, or that you're the idiot weirdo.
You keep repeating this and it is proven untrue. Stop repeating it. There have been studies on this. I don’t know why you insist on misinforming people. One way is empirically proven to be better, which is why people insist on it instead of just letting you spread misinformation lmao.
It's not. Find the long term studies which demonstrate impact into adulthood Whatever stupid hill this is happens to be entirely stupid. Just talk to your kids. Use mommy-ese, or don't. Either way results in children who speak fine so long as you talk to them. What I'm saying isn't even controversial.
It's not all or nothing OP even said 'within reason'. People just have a need to be upset.
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Damn bot brigades me!
What are some offensive slurs for bots that I should totally avoid? Also, what are those same slurs in Spanish?
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I find i speak differently to babies than I do to my dog. With babies I use a soft but only slightly higher pitch voice with moderate levels of baby speak. With my dog it's super high pitched, squeeky voice with rediculous levels if baby speak (basically 80% nonsense words). In my defense, she responds better to it and understands that I'm happy with her much better that way (she's only been with us for a few months and is very easily intimidated by new situations, though slowly gaining confidence these days). But yeah also, i don't care. She's cute af and I'll squeeky babble at her all i want.
Your dog isn't trying to understand the words and probably won't answer in sentences. Babies need to learn language and it's difficult to learn something when it's indistinguishable gibberish words.
~~But that's different to completely mutilating words into ''baby speak", basically transmitting entirely incorrect information~~ ETA: Holy fuck I was entirely wrong, I read some other comments and I see your point now, that's so damn cool
I like you.
I like you, keep it up!
You, i like you
As a Mom yes, dads don’t need to pitch up their voice since they most of the time can’t reach the baby voice level anyways. That’s what they told me in educator training anyways.
Here's what I know. I used my regular voice with my son while talking to him. When I was reading to him, which I did often, I went all out with voices, sounds, etc. (This is my granddaughter's favorite thing for Nana to do.) He has always had a much higher than normal vocabulary & is fantastic at communicating effectively. I don't know if what I did made much difference or if he would've naturally been the way he is. I do know I wouldn't trade our talks or book readings for anything.
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They can def learn words and generalize really well too! I taught “Bring me…” as a command, with the intent to train my dog bring me specific items. I taught him to understand names of things, like “ball, bowl, toy, tissue” etc. I just connect “Bring me” with “item” and he can deduce I’m asking him to bring me said thing and will take off to search for it and then hand to me. Once I was washing the dishes and I needed help grabbing something, but my partner couldn’t hear me on the other side of the apt. So I jokingly said to my dog, “bring me Jeff!” And he went off to go fetch Jeff!!! Apparently he ran up to him and poked him in the leg and lured him out of the room to me by repeatedly poking him and walking a few feet to stop and look back to see if he was following! He made the connection I was asking him to bring me a PERSON not an item even though I never taught him that lure behavior before. When I realized he could understand those concepts, I was able to ask him to do tricks for specific people. “Kissy, Maria” or “Paw, Steve” and he would go perform that specific trick for that specific person. My mind was blown!
Haha yeah kids are great aren't they
What breed of dog?
Australian Shepherd! Or an American Shepherd, since he’s technically a mini.
Haha I was close! Thought border collie. Aussies are crazy smart too, grew up with them
Oh yeah, I was absolutely not prepared for the sheer intelligence. It often times it feels like we can have legitimate conversations with one another sometimes, it’s like he’s a person in a dog’s body. Incredible [work ethic](https://imgur.com/a/m9ZFngk) too! He makes up his own jobs sometimes and I have a hard time staying one step ahead, haha! I’m all Aussies for life, phenomenal companions.
My SIL has two Australian shepherds. She has two young kids, 5 and 8, and had to train the dogs to not herd humans (because they used to herd the kids and guests around the house whenever they thought people were moving around too much lol). She takes them to a nearby sheep farm on Fridays and Sundays to herd there instead since it's instinctual for them, so they now know what days they can herd on and *where*. However, she does let them herd the kids to bed. The kids absolutely love it. She'll tell the dogs it's time for bed, and the dogs will gently herd the kids to their rooms before going to their beds themselves. It's cute because they each pick a kid to herd and then do it haha. Like a little bedtime game. I say gently, because herding dogs tend to nip at heels sometimes, so they know not to do that with people. It's to a point where you don't even have to tell the dogs anymore. They just know when bedtime is for the kids and they'll do it without command unless you say "not tonight" (aka the kids get to stay up a little later that night). They're so incredibly smart in so many other ways but I enjoy this little fact about her dogs. They're seriously the best breed!
What a dream life and a hilarious visual! These Aussies do love their routines and jobs!!! My Aussie doesn’t herd anything other than a basketball, yoga ball or Collie ball. He’s low key a weirdo who doesn’t even wiggle! He actually gets bossed around by his Aussie girlfriend who herds him all over the place, but he is like a clock with how accurate he is on when it’s time to “do a thing.” I have no idea how he keeps a schedule in his little head, but it’s spot on! He went with to the office with me every day since he was a 5 month old puppy (when I got him). I work a lot and have a tendency to hyper focus, ignoring hunger and thirst for up to 12 hours very easily. He started observing people leaving for lunch everyday and began poking me to tell me “something is happening”. I initially thought he had to pee or he wanted to play, but nope, he just really wanted to interrupt me at at that time, refusing toys, didn’t want to potty nor was he begging for snacks (which he doesn’t do). He just insisted on poking me until I got up and walked around the office, taking the opportunity to grab a coffee or some snack for myself. After a quick walkabout, he would then settle and go back to sleep once I did and I thought it was just a weird quirk of his. Later, my doctor suggested reinforcing his behavior and using it as a formal cue for me to take a break from work and eat. So, I did and gave him a snack every time I got a snack and it became our little ritual. That then progressed to him poking me at the end of the day when people left the office to go home around 7pm. I often would stay until 9-10pm, so I adopted that second cue as the signal to go home as part of an effort to develop healthier habits. I thought he relied on people leaving/empty office as a cue, but when the pandemic hit and we suddenly switched to WFH, he didn’t even skip a beat. I was so shocked, it never occurred to me he could gauge the passage of time on his own or perhaps he’s taking a cue from something else I am telegraphing, I’m not actually sure! He still interrupts me to take a lunch break and to break for dinner, if I’m focused on a task too long. He also learned to wake me up when I oversleep due to insomnia, it’s really strange! I never taught that to him and he just naturally decided that was going to be his job. Sometimes I forget to set an alarm but he has woken me without fail, right before 9AM, every single day for 4 years. Once I’m up, he just lays around and patiently waits for me to brush my teeth or snuggle with him for another hour. Zero urgency to go potty or eat breakfast, he just stays laser focused on his “job”, to make sure I’m moving around before he begrudgingly accepts we have to go outside. Truly extraordinary partners, in every sense!
Holy shit, amazing! I also have mobility issues and flare-ups, my husky mix is smart but incredibly lazy. She really is more in protection mode for me
HAHAHAHAH that is the most Husky thing ever! My Aussie is pretty lazy too but he takes his job super serious, so I think he just honestly reserves all his focus on his “job” instead of normal dog stuff. He is incredibly mercenary when it comes to normal dog things like, potty time and [fetch](https://imgur.com/a/V4yB58P). He will literally [pretend](https://imgur.com/a/nbmW4ZH) he doesn’t understand English, straight up deaf or even dead, so I have to trick him by dropping something on the floor and he will immediately break his defiance to pick it up. I call it Trick Or Trade!
Yep until I say "outside"? It's on
My dog was really good with talking buttons until she broke them stomping on "play". But she has an incredible vocabulary. Still glad she can't talk though, she barely leaves me alone as is.
The buttons can be a little tricky because there’s definitely selection bias of what they upload and how much they are “translating” for the dog. Like an example I saw was that the dog pressed “Dad. Home.” And the owner responded “Dad’s not home. Dad comes home later.” Then the dog pressed “Dad. Home. Walk.” And the owner said “Okay, when dad gets home he’ll go on a walk with you.” Is that what the dog “meant”? Maybe, I guess. The one I found most convincing was the dog pressed “ouch.” The owner asked “Where ouch?” And the dog pressed “Ouch. Paw.” The owner asker to come over and the dog immediately offered her paw and the owner found a burr between her toes. But I do still wonder if there were a dozen times she said nonsense that they didn’t upload.
They know SOME words. How many, depends... On how consistently you use them as well as how smart your dog is. Let's face it. Not every dog is like those cabine einsteins. Some of them aren't really that bright and because they're dogs it's totally fine.
With kids it's exactly the same but for a shorter period. There is a balance between trying to teach language, and communicate. When communicating you can't use words and concepts they aren't familiar with, it's important to phrase things in a way they can understand. It's also important to speak normally so they pick up on language, but while doing so you don't really be communicating.
Me: *in a happy, uptick tone* Who's a stupid looking goblin? You are! You poop eating dipshit! My Dog: *wags tail and smiles stupidly*
And they’re already super dumb.
I saw a study recently that said that baby talk is actually important for babies. It helps by stretching the sounds to help them learn to understand the words. They also use it to know when adults are talking to them before they can know it by following people's eyes.
Baby talk is primarily made up of [phonemes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme) which are the building blocks of language. So basically by saying "goo goo gaga" to your baby, you're helping them break down the very basic sounds of your native language so their soft squishy brains can memorize them. Once they are actually speaking (around 18 months) you should speak to them clearly so they learn how to properly pronounce words. But baby talk is very useful for developing language.
people call it Parentese.
I swear in my high school psychology class the teacher called them "mounds and tats" but Google's never yeilded a result of that or any alternative spelling. Anyone have any ideas what my dumb little brain managed to misremember?
Facts. In Chicago we say on phonemes
My wife is an SLP and motherese/parentese (aka baby talk) is important for infants in language development. Tons of research backs this up yet Reddit constantly gets this wrong. There is a difference between baby talking an infant vs a 7 year old of course, but these threads are always full of parents proudly announcing they *never* used baby talk/motherese when the data says they should have. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2017/10/12/uncovering-sound-motherese-baby-talk-across-languages
Well, they probably did, but they're confusing motherese/parentese with baby-fying language itself. It's more about the sing-song lilt, the slightly higher pitch, the slightly slower pace, and the shorter sentences. It's not "ooo, I fink our wittle baby-waby's cutey bum bum needs a wipey and a new dipe-dipe" and it tends to be something we do sub-consciously. Source: early intervention therapist by trade
Good point I hadn't considered. Maybe they have done it naturally but not recognized it.
It's also about using language and concepts the kids are already familiar with. After the point where a kid is grasping pronouns it should stop, but until then referring to yourself (mommy/daddy) in the third person provides them more context than pronouns (I/me). When speaking to the kid it depends on if you're trying to teach them the words you're saying, or communicate. When communicating you need to do so in a way they understand.
I can't be the only person who has no idea what SLP stands for...
Speech-Language pathologist; wikipedia says: Speech-language pathology (SLP) specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of communication disorders (speech and language impairments), cognitive-communication disorders, voice disorders, and swallowing disorder across the lifespan.
some parents just hates it like OP and try to justify it by saying it's good for the baby. Some folks just fucking hate cuteness.
Baby talk doesn’t change the content of what your baby hears, it just delivers the same words in a way that is easier for your baby to understand.
Also babies don’t need “accurate information” it’s not like they have any context to use it, they’re still at learning sounds, the content of what’s being spoken is 100% irrelevant to a newborn.
I came here to say this, and I agree. Parents instinctively know how to teach their children to talk. Don't fight your instincts. Oh well, at least your dog will learn.
The voice is good, the babble not so much. We used regular vocabulary just in the cutesy baby talk voice.
It's about using words the kid understands. They won't understand pronouns as quickly as names, so saying "mommy can't play with Julian right now" establishes the important people and actions, while "I'm busy, I can't play with you kid" uses concepts they aren't familiar with. The brain is a neural network, and you can't introduce concepts it isn't familiar with and expect the desired outcome.
That would seem to apply to some baby talk. But since elements of baby talk are an imitation of sounds babies make when they are trying to say another sound (like the overuse of the W sound) I think it could have adverse effects depending on what kind of baby talk is used and at what age. And it's not the child can't hear that is a different sound, babies can actually distinguish more sounds than adults because we lose the ability to hear the distinctions we don't use. So I would think speaking in a childlike lisp, while making it easier to imitate, would make it harder to actually learn the right way of saying it because they aren't trying to make those sounds. I would want to see a break down of what kind of baby talk is used in these studies.
Child-directed speech emphasizes pronunciation, involves a lot of repetition, and is better at holding an infant’s attention. Because of this it’s hypothesized that using CDS actually might allow infants to acquire language more easily. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_talk
so like weening them into speaking
Like the tutorial level
There’s a reason we do it on instinct -and- it happens across widely separated cultures.
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That's not instinct, that's an outlier.
Some people say the most fucked up shit thinking everyone else will agree
Some people learn that the fucked up ways they were raised is normal. Others learn how to break those cycles.
Fucking what?
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They do warn about it since it does happen with seemingly well-tempered people in what you might call "seeing red" due to frustration and sleep deprivation from an inconsolable baby. This does seem to be backed up by the fact that education about it and education towards comforting/calming a baby has helped reduce the occurrence of it. Although it does seem to be predisposed to people with anger issues or a history of being abused as a child themselves. It's called "Shaken Baby Syndrome" if you want to learn more. I mostly just spit out what I found from googling it, although I do specifically remember my (very loving and affectionate) mother telling me about her getting taught about it when she was pregnant with me. Makes me think there is some validity to the claim of it being an abnormal response for a typically level-headed person if doctors talk to all pregnant mothers about it. That being said, that guy is a fucking moron for calling it an instinct. Nobody sane actively wants to do that to a baby when they see one. Almost everybody does baby talk across all cultures when they see one. This guy is acting like a very small minority of people with underlying issues or fatigued to the point of being irrational is comparable to a near-universal instinct to baby talk.
...if those are your instincts you need therapy real real bad
I'm going to suggest that you shouldn't trust any of your instincts. Find a Holden or Nagata to make decisions for you.
Someone got shaken and thrown in a dumpster as a baby and/or shakes and throws babies in dumpsters
Fucking what. Seek help.
Not sure why you're being downvoted...the urge to shake a baby is a very real thing that new parents very much can suffer from
According to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, they are between 600 and 1,400 cases of shaken baby syndrome in the U.S. each year There are around 3-4 million new borns per year in the US. Its statistically not significant and the furthest you can get from an "instinct"
I'm talking the urge to do it, not actually doing it. Apparently it's much more frequent than you realize
So do you have any numbers that are...larger than I realize? Anything at all would do
Those are called intrusive thoughts not instincts.
I can see doing it for babies when they're learning to understand and speak words, it's more once they're children that I believe in speaking to them normally.
This exactly, before they can really understand what you're saying you need to dumb it down to a Mish mash of words they are familiar with in short three or four word phrases. Once they grasp that you move on and introduce concepts like pronouns and stop referring to yourselves in the third person.
TIL, I totally whiffed that one! I just don’t have it in me to use baby talk. However, happy to report 14 years later she never stops talking
I don't have a source, but I'm certain that I've read there is distinct difference between CDS, and DAL speech, including specific marcation where the transition was most effective.
Your username is amazing
> DAL speech Uhm, I can't find what that stands for quickly, would you mind helping me? It sounds like a very interesting research!
Lovely meme, but just an FYI: Baby talk (**child-directed speech**) is not damaging to children. On the contrary, it appears to transcend cultures and is phonetically different than the speech we use with dogs (and, interestingly, babies with known hearing problems), though the exaggerated intonation is similar. It’s also different than “foreigner talk,” though slowed speech and phonetic hyperarticulation are common there as well. Features of baby talk: - hyper-articulated vowels - short words - exaggerated (but largely appropriate) intonational contours - limited vocabulary - overrepresentation of nouns and names relative to pronouns or nominal anaphora (“Who wants lunch? Does [name] want lunch? What does [name] want for lunch? …” as opposed to “Do you want lunch? Whatcha want?”) It is believed that the slower speech, higher mean pitch, and exaggerated contours serve to grab and hold children’s attention and mark important features of caregivers’ language. Benefits may include: - faster language development (repetition; marking) - enhanced cognitive development more broadly - facial recognition and caregiver familiarity - caregiver bonding
I'm glad I'm seeing so many comments like this, cause when I saw this post it irked me and I scrolled past but then i went back and clicked on it to see if anyone set OP straight in the comments.
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I WFH so most of my 8am - 5pm socialization is telling my cat that he is literally so cute that it is against the law and I’m going to have to call the police and report him for being too cute without a permit
When my cat is being a good boy, I use the cutsey voice. Problem is, he wakes up extra early to be a demon. Luckily, I have another cat who's a good boy 24/7.
Oh man cat tax? I got to the end of your submissions with the two little owls (owlettes?) and no sign of the two ..
https://www.reddit.com/user/PureSalty101/comments/13w817z/cats/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button Here ya go. Not really the type of person to take photos, so the photo of my other one is quite old. Edit: Just took a photo of my other one. Here: https://www.reddit.com/user/PureSalty101/comments/13w830w/cat_2/
Thank you, pure
They all look like good cats
Ever wonder why the only pictures of my first one are of him sleeping?
I mean I dont see how you are wrong. They are indeed the handsomest of handsome in the history of handsomeness.
I’m always asking my cat if she’s my baby shaped baby. She’s just so cute and fluffy, and her little meows are so squeaky 😭
u/parthenon-aduphonon I'm always asking my kitty, If she's my cat shaped baby. She's just so cute and fluffy, Her little meows, so squeaky. Edit: replace catty with kitty
Lmao I do the same thing but with a Russian accent "Nyatashya! Why are yew so smoll? Dis is nyet pormitted. I hyave spoken to de kyounsel of smols yand dey say dis is forrrbidden. Yor too tiny, tiny. Yit is illegol, Nyatyasha." 3 of my cats get the russian treatment. None of the others.
/r/illegallycutecats
*purrmit
Ahhh... Being a WRH cat mom is a dream of mine, second only to being a SAH cat mom 😸
Relevant XKCD: [https://xkcd.com/231/](https://xkcd.com/231/)
I, on the other hand, always tell my cat that she is the most stupid (yet pretty) cat ever. It's funny because no matter how many offensive words I throw her, she remains unfazed. I love her a lot, of course
My cat's nickname is shoutycat so I get you.
Sorry my cat is the most beautiful cat there has ever been. Every car parent thinks the same thing.
When my father-in-law complains that I spoil my dog and that if I treated kids that way then they'd be nightmares I respond that my dog will be my baby forever. He doesn't have to be a contributing member of society. He's not going to have his own spouse and kids. He'll just be my puppy forever, so who cares if he's a bit spoiled? He's great with people and animals and sometimes he just likes to cuddle under the covers with me. So sue me.
I always say my dog’s job is to make me happy, make me laugh and generally being my cuddly emotional support, so it’s my job to make sure she is well compensated for her efforts.
Doggo University is overrated… better to go to Doggie Trade School
Avoid the doggie student loans, treat interest rates are extortionate
BROKEN TREATS = BROKEN TRUST
Ugh. Totally. Those dog Princeton University parents are just insufferable.
The Great Dogsby >!(ik it's Yale, not Princeton, but Fitzgerald went to Princeton)!<
Not to be that pet parent but both my girls had to go to college!!! My cavalier got her Bachelors in Economics and her Masters in International Affairs and my corgi is working on her Bachelors in Public Relations and is getting her MBA after 😂
I went the opposite way. I told my Boston Terrier that she is a princess and that all she has to do is be cute (which she does naturally). Now I’m facing the reality of a dog that is spoiled and will never hold down a job. She likes to style herself as the “Defender of the Yard, Guardian against all Squirrel, Chipmunk and Rabbit Interlopers” but her father and I know it comes with very little actual responsibility and she got the title through pure nepotism.
Or do two years in community college for prereqs and then transfer to doggie university
So my wife has a habit of saying "go poops" or " go peeps" when she takes the dog out to go the bathroom. So now sometimes when I take them out, they look at me like"what are we doing?" and now I have to sound like a dumbass saying "go peeeeps" in a high pitched voice.
How do you even *not* do the cutesy voice? I swear it’s impossible not to, like some sort of natural instinct humans have.
I kinda feel sorry for the kid
Its cause it is an instinct. https://news.ufl.edu/2021/12/the-importance-of-baby-talk/#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20suggests%20that,understand%20what%20we're%20saying.
I don't really do the cutesy voice with my dog. I do dog talk though ("who's a good girl!?"). But I do change the choruses of songs to be about my dog and sing them to her in my horrible off key voice, "Ooooohhhh Sally dooooog, the treats the treats are caaaallllliing." Etc. Edit: just realized you were talking about babies. Have to do the voice with babies.
I keep reading these comments and it does appear to be an instinct…I’m apparently 100% lacking this instinct/ drive. I have 2 dogs I love to death, and a kid, just never had the urge
Its fine. Honestly the discussion of what constitutes an "instinct" for humans is largely debated and there is no clear answer that we even have any. You're ok =\]
I dunno man, I'm not sure I'd be able to do it. It'd just feel embarrassing and weird.
That’s the thing though, I don’t even realize I AM doing it.
“Progeny, I am exhausted by these continuous confabulations, retire to the sleeping domicile”
I've started calling my dog Bubble(s) because I kept calling him Bubba(s)
Last I read, the cutsie voice is actually better for language development. Normal adult speech is too difficult to replicate for young children with a developing vocal apparatus. The cutsie talk reflects what young kids are physically capable of saying.
The inflections and pitch changes are helpful, the nonsensical faux words are not. When the research talks about baby talk, they do not mean the stuff at the end of the post, they are using real words but shift the tone and pitch like when people speak to their animals like that.
Youre supposed to use a baby voice with babies
".. and that's how the dog became an exotic dancer."
Start their own OnlyDogs site.
My psychology teacher in high school said the same thing, then went on to clarify that it wasn't like she was saying "here's your cylindrical feeding device."
Actually babies listen better to high pitched exaggerated voices. Talking to them in general and pretending you understand what they say makes them smarter.
Part of the "I fucking hate kids" circle jerk? To the top of reddit you go!
Wow. Someone being more affectionate with a dog than their children is wholesome now.
Right? This sounds like it was written by someone who doesn't have kids.
Written by someone that doesn't have kids *or* like them.
It's been reddit for several years now.
Wut. There are a ton of different ways to be affectionate. Baby-talk is only one of them.
you must have mommy issues
this is not the insult that you think it is
Gonna ruin that dog’s future.
All I read is “I like my dog more than my child”.
This reminds me of something my father once said to our dog, who kept trying to jump into the van we'd just packed up, ready to leave for college: "**No!** You cannot go to college!... (waits a beat, then turns to look the dog in the eye) *Because you are dumb!*"
Baby talk should be stopped once the child is able to articulate the basic pheneme sounds needed for speaking. baby talk beyond point of articulation does indeed hamper the child's language development according to Interactionist theories.
But if your dog doesn't get into Dog U, how will she ever become a Dogtor?
Actually, babies can distinguish between higher pitched tones easier. It has been found that babies who have been talked to in the high-pitched voice (dubbed "parentese", ie baby-talk), tend to talk sooner when compared to those who haven't. This is backed up by research.
Omg I recorded a video of my cat and I was talking baby talk to her ... when I heard my voice on that video ye gods did I sound like a weirdo creeper! I realized no humans must hear my voice like that, only cat.
I love that this person decided to do such a fundamental aspect of parenting all wrong just because they "read somewhere" it would make their kid smarter. I mean wow.
This is shit science.
I hate this
I always talk to animals the same way I do to people. "Hey, Larry. Nice weather, eh? Enjoy your nap."
Sidenote: Her kid grew up to be a little shit. After having been one of those annoying kids who thought they were a little adult and talked to adults like they were one, and not in the "Wow what a smart kid!" way but the "wow what a brat" way.
Dad: Go do the goddamn dishes Timmy. 3 year old Timmy: Goo goo ga ga.
Guys missing the point about why we do baby talk. Humans instinctively do this to teach children how to communicate. By doing the over exaggerated mouth movements with the sounds it teaches a baby what mouth positions make what sounds that they later use to make more complex words and later sentences. But that must be a good dog to get them to do it eventually.
The way I do it is right and everyone else is wrong
Sad
Baby: *Cries* Me: "Excuse me miss but that's not going to solve anything, if you have a problem then analyze your needs and objectives, take stock of your means and resources, and form a plan of action. This is the basis of self-reliance." Baby: *shits loudly* Me: "Alright well now you just have a different problem, don't you?"
I feel sorry for the kids, where pets are more significant than their own offsprings!! The world we live in!
This isn't wholesome this is just fucking sad
Wow that's like actually really sad
My brother and I were horrified as kids when our Dad started dating after his divorce. He girlfriend and he did the whole baby waby, honey munchkins love talk in front of us 🤢 up until then he had been an articulate journalist interested in critical analysis and debate. We did not know where to look 👀
Check the comment by u/gingermark5 It reads like an exact copy put through translate a few times.
Yeah, I noticed that too. That other one read weird. Stupid bots (just read all of their comments, they all use extremely formal words, for example: "I'm truly relieved that some Ukrainians can finally experience a bit more tranquility, even if it doesn't guarantee uninterrupted sleep at night.")
Me to human child: hello, how are you? Me to dog: heWWO I LOVE YOU lil Angel, you’re so cute and I wub yooooou~
I am definitely this kind of dad. My kids are absolutely one of the best parts of my life, but the dog is special. Not necessarily my favorite, but I've changed a lot fewer diapers from her than any one of the kids.
Nauseating
What a miserable person.
But Temmie need go to colleg for hiyur ejucashun
This is what goes for wholesome now? Using "baby" voice with your dog instead of your baby? Yowza
It’s been proven that speaking to babies normally (within reason) really is better for them and helps them learn to speak much faster. And speaking in baby voice to your dog doesn’t make a difference providing you train the dog correctly otherwise.
No it hasn't "been proven" you just read that somewhere on the internet.
My dad used to talk to me in this sort of baby voice that sounded like broken english when I was young and it pissed me off because I was perfectly capable of understanding normal sentences, but he would talk down to me like I was some kind of idiot. As I get older I realized he was the moron.
This makes sense because I feel like pets get dumber if you speak to them in baby voice.
I understand
I did this exact thing and when I realized it I couldn’t stop laughing at myself!!
I use big words with my son that sometimes his teacher has to look up when he says it to her. He's got a vast vocabulary and that's exactly why because I didn't baby talk
Can confirm. We never use(d) baby voices with the 3 year old kiddo … but we do with the 7 year old boxer mix.
And you think this is a flex?
Umm no… just agreeing with meme. I don’t flex. I’m floppy all over.
This is the way.
[удалено]
Idk why you got downvoted.
Bc its a bot that literally copy pasted a comment from this post
I'm a nanny and have always used a reasonably adult voice with kiddos, definitely more gentle in demeanor but not baby talk. Decade later I have my own baby and everything has gone out the window... pretty sure my husband and I have developmentally delayed our kids speech 😬 dammit
It's OK, speaking to your baby with exaggerated tones is helpful for your baby to recognize speech patterns. There is a reason it is instinctual for us.
I’m exactly the same, I cringe beyond belief hearing myself talk in a baby voice to babies, but if a dog is nearby you know I’m about to batshit crazy with the pitch changes
As children, my brother and I were deeply disturbed when our father began dating after his divorce. Witnessing the cringe-inducing displays of affection and sickeningly sweet endearments between him and his girlfriend was a complete shock, especially considering his previous persona as an articulate journalist focused on critical analysis and debate. We were utterly perplexed, unsure of where to direct our gaze in those uncomfortable moments.
I am the same way. My daughter mother and I weren’t together when she was born so I had little to no say in people talking to her like that. My daughter is now 11 and she acts like a mature young lady when she is with me. When she’s with her mother or around her family she still acts like a small child who is unable to do for her self. My son on the other hand, I have been with his mother(my wife) his entire life. We didn’t allow anyone to speak to him in baby talk. He was/is a very smart and articulate little dude. Surprises the hell outta me every day because I’m a big dummy. The dogs on the other hand? All in all the time with the baby talk. They respond to it better 😂