Mamma Tip: Raising Bilingual Children

My husband and I plan to raise our daughter (and future children) bilingual.  Although I am not an expert in childhood multilingualism, here are a few tips that have helped us so far:

1.  Speak the minority language at home -- There will be plenty of opportunities to learn the major language with friends, at school and on TV.

2.  Hire a babysitter that only speaks the minority language, or have your child attend a daycare where the minority language is spoken.

3.  Purchase plenty of children's books, games and songs in the minority language for fun and authentic input.

4.  Skype with relatives or friends of the minority language, or make play dates with friends who also know the minority language.

5.  Visit the country where the minority language is spoken.

6.  If you are serious about having your children gaining literacy in two languages, consider having them attend a bilingual school or attending school in two different countries.

7.  Be natural and have fun!  Although hard work is required, language learning should not be a major source of stress or pressure.  Make sure that there is plenty of pleasure involved in the learning process and give your children support an love!

Climb the Mountain of Stability

My husband and I climbed a small mountain today.  The path was stairs all of they way up, and I was carrying our daughter on my back.  In the beginning, I was full of energy and could have run up the first few sets of stairs.  However, I knew that running would wear me out and I would not make it to the top.  Since I knew I wanted to make it to the top, I went slowly, one step at a time.  We reached the summit in no time, and I wasn't exhausted at all!

When trying to create good habits, we often start out with loads of enthusiasm.  This enthusiasm works like a false sense of confidence and often leads us to making drastic or extreme changes, just like running up a mountain.  Although we might be able to keep these changes for a few days, a week, or in some cases even a few months, eventually we will become overwhelmed, tired out, discouraged and miserable.

So rather than creating habits to change, I believe that we should make habits to stabilize.

Some examples:

• take a walk first thing in the morning rather than pledging to run for 30 minutes
• replace one bad eating habit- perhaps eating one piece of fruit at night rather than junk food- rather than changing your whole diet
• wake up 15 minutes earlier each week rather than trying to wake up at 5 am every morning
• create a budget that allows some indulging here and there rather than restricting yourself on every aspect of spending money
• if you want to pick up new hobbies, try one skill at a time, rather than tackling cooking, learning a new language, programming and skiing all at once

When planning such habits, don't think of how you will change in a few weeks or months.  Think of the impact after years.  Think about making it all of the way to the top of the mountain.  Some key words are:

realistic
patient
persistent
dedicated
paced

Also, try to evaluate your energy stores objectively.  When we are excited to make a new change, we forget other obligations that will eventually tie us down.  When on vacation or when less busy with work, it is easier to take the time to focus on ourselves, and we can afford to make more drastic changes.  When we are barely surviving our daily routine, reducing commitments might be a better choice than squeezing in an intense workout plan during lunch break.  Some important questions are:

Do I have the time for this habit?
Do I have the energy for this habit?
Will I have the time and energy in a week from now?  A month?  A year?
Will others support me with this habit?
What other commitments can I get out of to make this habit a priority?

Now go climb your mountain of stability, one step at a time!