Language Barrier

I tend to believe that most parents make certain assumptions regarding their children. We assume that they will eat if they are hungry and sleep if they are tired. We assume that when they are cold they will keep their clothes on. All of these assumptions have been proven false by my children. They often don't eat when hungry, especially if there is something more fun to do. They resist sleep or the same reason that they reject food. There is something more fun to do. Katie would prefer to sit on the bathroom stool in the dark then to lay in her soft bed and sleep. Then of course there is the issue of clothing and the weather. I'm hoping that my daughters will have grown in their thinking and will wear clothes this winter. Katie spent last winter in a windbreaker and tennis shoes and a diaper. That's all. Most of the people at the grocery store thought I was a bad mother but you can read all about that here.

So, although my children prove my assumptions wrong daily, I still make assumptions. I assume it is because I do not have enough brain power to consider all the possible scenarios. I just assume that I know what is likely to occur.

Tonight as we are leaving Perkins (Tuesday is kids eat free night), Hannah looks at me and asks, "What does yeah mean?" I stop, I look at Jesse with this incredulous look.
He asks her, "What does yeah mean? Is that what you said?"
"Uh, huh." She replies.
Surely she knows that yeah and yes are the same word with nearly the same usage, so I say, "You know what it means. You tell me." I say it in a playful tone but she really can't answer me. "Hmmm, I dont' know. What is yeah?"
"Hannah, yeah is yes."
"It is!? I never knew that before!"

Oh, dear. I sort of assumed that my child speaks English. I was wrong.

Actually, this is an interesting issue. Usually if Hannah asks to do an activity I respond in a variety of ways:

Yes (meaning yes and that it is fine)
Sure (yes, what a great idea)
Yeah (yes, but what a pain, I'm trying to do something else right now and this is very bad timing, why do you always what to water paint while I'm cooking dinner and the phone is ringing and your sister is pouring lotion in her hair and the baby has locked himself in the bedroom. Why are you hiding in the kitchen cupboard when you just asked to paint. ugh)

So, really it is no wonder that she doesn't know what yeah means. Yikes. I'll have to work on that.