It can go the other way, too. Parents can miss a lot, simply because they’re around their kids all day.
I remember being on an airplane with a mother and her toddler; the little boy was crying desperately “I wanna go to the BATHROOM!” while the mother was doing everything to calm him but taking him to the bathroom. I think, being frazzled, she must have just perceived as wordless screaming what I clearly understood as words.
Even stranger example of this: when I was about six months old, my mother made a cassette tape of my “baby talk.” Years later she listened to the tape: and I wasn’t babbling, I was speaking understandable words. Under the stress of caring for a small child, you don’t actually notice details that are obvious to a non-parent observer.
Even stranger example of this: when I was about six months old, my mother made a cassette tape of my “baby talk.” Years later she listened to the tape: and I wasn’t babbling, I was speaking understandable words. Under the stress of caring for a small child, you don’t actually notice details that are obvious to a non-parent observer.
Interesting! My experience is mostly in the opposite direction, i.e. the baby saying things that only the parents understand, for others it’s just meaningless babble (“He said he was hungry!” “No he didn’t, he said “muh”).
Interesting. On a related note, my mom tells me that when I was little, I would ask for things with what sounded like meaningless babble, and my older brother (+2.5 yrs) would “interpret” and say things like, “Oh, he wants some water!” or “He wants his toys”, and turn out to be correct!
Luckily, things are different today: people say I mumble and think I’m German :-P
It can go the other way, too. Parents can miss a lot, simply because they’re around their kids all day.
I remember being on an airplane with a mother and her toddler; the little boy was crying desperately “I wanna go to the BATHROOM!” while the mother was doing everything to calm him but taking him to the bathroom. I think, being frazzled, she must have just perceived as wordless screaming what I clearly understood as words.
Even stranger example of this: when I was about six months old, my mother made a cassette tape of my “baby talk.” Years later she listened to the tape: and I wasn’t babbling, I was speaking understandable words. Under the stress of caring for a small child, you don’t actually notice details that are obvious to a non-parent observer.
Interesting! My experience is mostly in the opposite direction, i.e. the baby saying things that only the parents understand, for others it’s just meaningless babble (“He said he was hungry!” “No he didn’t, he said “muh”).
Interesting. On a related note, my mom tells me that when I was little, I would ask for things with what sounded like meaningless babble, and my older brother (+2.5 yrs) would “interpret” and say things like, “Oh, he wants some water!” or “He wants his toys”, and turn out to be correct!
Luckily, things are different today: people say I mumble and think I’m German :-P