Baby talk is a common form of communicating with infants, but not in my family. Through experience in watching other people raise their children, I decided to do something different with mine. I never uttered a word of baby talk. My theory is that when baby talk is uttered to a baby, the baby then learns how to speak in the form of the baby talk. What I discovered is that by eliminating the baby talk and speaking only correct words to my children, even while in the womb and as newborns is that when my kids began to speak, the words were much clearer than those of babies who were spoken to in baby talk.
Come on, seriously, what kind of language are you teaching your baby to speak by saying things like “goo goo gaga” or speaking words in a “cutesy” way? Your baby is learning from everything you do, especially the way you talk. By listening to those around them, babies form their first words. Do you want your baby’s first word for doll to sound like “doll” or “dolly” or do you want it to sound like “dow” or “do-wee”. Most will choose the first option. So, why is it that people often resort to the “cutesy wutesy” way of talking to infants? Yes, babies are cute, but they are certainly not unintelligent.
As infants, when an an adult would chime in with these “words” or sound effects, my children would simply give them a confused look as if to say “What is wrong with that person?” I’m glad most of them didn’t notice as many feelings could have been hurt. Most people I was close with knew my rule, but I generally didn’t say anything to people who would only see the baby every once in a while so as not to turn it into a controversy or heated discussion.
Yes, children need to be children, but they also need to learn. As parents, it is our job to teach them everything they need to know to succeed in the world. Could this baby talk be a reason for some children taking speech classes? It is likely not a cause for every case, but surely it is a cause for some of them. If they hear the words incorrectly, they will inevitably speak them wrong as well. After all, if they don’t hear the correct word often enough, what are they to think? They will, of course, go with the option spoken to and around them the most often.
