Not correcting just b/c it's cute.

[eepster]

Do you ever not correct mistakes/misunderstandings your DC make just b/c they are so cute?  Things that you know your really should set right, but you just think are too adorable.

I've been torn between feeling like I need to fix certain things, and just hating the idea of squashing these adorable little moments.

I've been feeling guilty for a while that I just keep letting DS call his Montessori school a "Mozzarella school.  I just couldn't bring myself to though and it is pretty harmless.

Today though, I found out DS has a belief that might not be quite as harmless.  DS believes that eating astronaut ice cream is going to help him become an astronaut.  This one seems a little less harmless.   For starters, I found this out after he had spent a bunch of his money on three packages of astronaut ice cream at the museum, so spending too much of his money on a false hope is one consequence.  I'm not sure how nutritious freeze dried ice cream is, so I don't want it becoming a staple of his diet.  Of course, it isn't actually going to help him become an astronaut, so letting him think it will feels like lying.

It really is such a sweet cute thing to hear him talk about it.  It also feels so sad to disappoint him.  Besides, isn't believing silly things part of a full childhood.

I know it's a silly dilemma, but it's on my mind.

[mom2happy]

I never corrected ANYTHING my toddlers said. If they were mispronouncing a word, I just let it go. It's just too darn precious.

I would always say the words correctly when speaking to them. They learn very soon. I remember distinctly the day my DD learned how to say her L's. I was excited, but a little sad that I would never hear her say "I yuv you" again.

 When they said something like; "he did it all by hisself", I would repeat back, "Oh, he did it all by himself?"

[coyotemist]

My toddler has a couple types of speech delays (2 or 3, I can't remember).  The speech therapist wants us to repeat the word as he said it, then say it correctly. 

Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don't.  It rubs me the wrong way, but he's talking a  LOT more.  Suddenly at 27 months he started putting 2 words together.

It is so cute, though, this stage passes quickly.

[Alyantavid]

I don't correct words, but I do pronounce them correctly. 

My 4 year old comes up with totally bizarre ideas sometimes and I don't really "correct" those.  I do get him to explain how/why he thinks something would work and he usually gets that it probably won't once we've talked it all out.

[DidiToo]

My 3 year old has some cute mispronunciations - "Assissent" instead of "accident," for example.  I'll repeat it back the right way when I say it, but I don't make an issue of it.

My 6 year old doesn't really mispronounce anything anymore, but at his age I'd probably correct him just to eliminate the tease factor.  I don't, however, correct him on song lyrics, because I often like his version better.

My own father let me say the word "pretzel" with an "n" in the middle until I was old enough to read the bag and figure out I'd been saying it wrong.  He couldn't let go of "prenzel," apparently. 

[wookie]

your ds is only 3. my almost 5yo will say things like "mama, he broked it!" or "it's redingculous (ridiculous)" and i don't correct it **sheepish** it's cute, i understand him *shrug* i say the right word back to him but don't correct him. enjoy tis phase, imo. pretty soon your son will be all "i have to be good at math to become an astronaut, don't I mom?" and you'll be wiping a tear :P

[pianojazzgirl]

When my ds was 2 he used to call the kitchen the "chicken".  I loved that one too much to correct (though he did eventually figure it out on his own... I think he knew what it was but just had trouble pronouncing it).

He also now calls vampires "vampirates" - love it!  And cucumbers are "cucamumbers" - we've all started calling them "cucamumbers", lol!!!

[Minxie]

This is why we go to "Old MacDonald's" instead of MickeyD's.

[-Resque-]

 7.5 year old DSD still says aminals instead of animals. We had sworn never to correct it, because it is the last "baby pronunciation" she had left. However, I noticed last week when she had a friend over that she said animals to her friend. I called her on it after she left and she said she knew daddy and I thought it was cute when she said aminals, so she kept on saying it that way for us.

[Owen'nZoe]

I didn't correct DS1, either, until he started school. I would use the correct pronunciation when talking to him, though. My favorite of his was that instead of saying "I am...", he'd always say "I'm im..." It doesn't look as cute in print, but it was just adorable. I started correcting that one when he started kindergarten, because I didn't want him to struggle with it in first grade. It took about half the school year before he had the correct construction down.

I don't think it is bad, either, that you haven't corrected his astronaut ice cream idea. He's testing his hypothesis - that should totally be encouraged! And while freeze dried ice cream isn't health food, I think any nutritional concerns one might have are greatly outweighed by the learning experience. ;)

[elmh23]

Originally Posted by Minxie 

This is why we go to "Old MacDonald's" instead of MickeyD's.

We do to :D  A friends kid started it and my kid picked it up.

I do correct pronunciation because my middle child has a speech delay and cannot hear the difference between a lot of sounds.  We're working on it with the speech therapist.

As for the astronaut ice cream, I probably wouldn't say anything, but I also would let him spend money on it.

[Maiasaura]

Aww, this thread is too cute!

Originally Posted by -Resque- and she said she knew daddy and I thought it was cute when she said aminals, so she kept on saying it that way for us.

Aww! What a sweetie!

Originally Posted by elmh23 We do to :D 

Calling you on your spelling since you call your dc on their pronunciation It's "too", as in "also". To, too, two.

My almost 10yo said "exavator" instead of "exCAvator" when he was two. I let it go. He knew the right way, just couldn't do it yet. I'm sure they all *hear* the correct way in their heads.

My 54yo DP, however, until very recently said "cimmanon", thinking it was correct, and still thinks "aliums" is correct. He thinks "aliens" is for people who aren't native to this country, and "aliums" is for outer-space people He was flabbergasted when I corrected him. He had no idea.

[sapphire_chan]

 I'd put exactly the same limits on freeze-dried icecream as you have on regular ice cream. It's got the same ingredients, just less water.

[mommamanjari]

I think letting kids pronounce things in their own way is fine. If you are uncomfortable letting the astronaut ice cream idea go, then you could study how people become astronauts with your DS. If you do, I don't think there would be a need for you to bring up the ice cream thing. Kind of redirecting without squashing his theory.

[Petie1104]

DS 1 used to say, "cimamim" instead of cinnamon. 

DS 2 used to say, "demote" instead of remote

Honestly there were more, but they are SOOOO cute.

The astronaut ice cream thing, I'd probably spend more time saying, "You want to be an ASTRONAUT.  WOW, hey let's look up some of the other things astronauts do" and lead him into the areas where is shows other things, like freeze dried peaches, and the exercise regime and "oh wow they have to be so strong." I wouldn't really tell him that astronaut ice cream won't help him be an astronaut, but show him all the other things that will help.  You know, "you know that riding your bike helps make you strong.  you know that we have peaches at home and fruit is so good for you". 

[hakeber]

Originally Posted by mommamanjari 

I think letting kids pronounce things in their own way is fine. If you are uncomfortable letting the astronaut ice cream idea go, then you could study how people become astronauts with your DS. If you do, I don't think there would be a need for you to bring up the ice cream thing. Kind of redirecting without squashing his theory.

I like this idea.  I think it would be good to show him how to be an astronaut if that's what he really wants to be.

I have never tried astronaut ice cream.  Is it any good? 

My son is now five, almost six and we have heard all sorts of adorable mispronunciations and mis-uses of words, especially since he is bilingual, so we get the Spanglish thing, too.

But some of them actually have become a part of our family language.  Rather than his eventual comformity to our "proper" grammar and collection of idioms, it is he who has us convinced these are real ways of communicating until we go out in the real world and people look at us like we're nuts.

For example he says "Even well" instead of just the same, anyway...now we say it.  "I'd sort of like pizza but even well, I'm okay with chinese."

And Scabetti with scabetti sauce.  I swear I sometimes can't even remember how else to say it.

Oh and does anyone know the game Purble Place on the computer...he loves the bakery game but because of the way the fristing comes out he now calls all icing and frosting "melting" and I am the only one who knows WTH he's on about.  I'm like "Ooh let's make a cake with pink melting.  that would be great!

He's so cute!

[Petie1104]

This post came to mind today.

I always tell dss and ds1 to stop antagonizing each other or their sibs.  Well, today, ds2 was upset because ds 1 didn't want to play with him. Dss offered to play with him and he said, "but he will agagonite me".   Too cute.

[ananas]

Haha, I said "prenzel", too! For years and years.

I don't think that it needs to be corrected. It's adorable. Just pronounce it correctly yourself, as others have said. Also, I do agree with correcting an older child, just for his sake. 

Also, I agree that learning more about astronauts is a great idea, rather than correcting his theory.

Originally Posted by DidiToo 

My 3 year old has some cute mispronunciations - "Assissent" instead of "accident," for example.  I'll repeat it back the right way when I say it, but I don't make an issue of it.

My 6 year old doesn't really mispronounce anything anymore, but at his age I'd probably correct him just to eliminate the tease factor.  I don't, however, correct him on song lyrics, because I often like his version better.

My own father let me say the word "pretzel" with an "n" in the middle until I was old enough to read the bag and figure out I'd been saying it wrong.  He couldn't let go of "prenzel," apparently. 

[Maiasaura]

Originally Posted by hakeber For example he says "Even well" instead of just the same, anyway...now we say it.  "I'd sort of like pizza but even well, I'm okay with chinese."

Oh yeah, now I remember what one of ds's things was! He...hmm, I think he was about 5? And he hit upon this phrase he used to say, and I know he thought he was all Mister Big Vocabulary and stuff and it was this: "Upon my circumstance". As an exclamation, kind of. "Upon my circumstance, I didn't know that!", or "Look what that silly squirrel just did, upon my circumstance!" Used to drive me nuts. He thinks it's funny, now. So do I Silly children They are so cute.

[meemee]

awwwww timmy's mama - dont burst his bubble yet. let him believe in his astronaut icecream. but limit the sweet intake as you usually do with an explanation. 

oh they have so many cute beliefs. i loved it as it gave me an idea of how dd thought. 

i never ever corrected dd with words or ideas. they figure it out on their own. 

dd kept looking for the spider that bit spiderman so she could close her eyes and get bitten by the spider so she could turn into spider girl and carry me adn swing from house to house to go to dc instead of walk or take the bike or drive. she is scared of spiders. has always been. actually almost any bugs. 

wish it were that easy though. 

awww love reading all the stories here. they so touch my heart. awwww