Health & Fitness
Regressive Speech
When an older child sounds like a baby, how can you get him or her to break the habit?
By Sarah Hamaker
Q: My six-year-old daughter has begun to use “babytalk.” She doesn’t speak clearly, affects a lisp and other ways of sounding much younger than her age. We’ve been telling her to talk like a big girl, and she will repeat her comment or question in a normal voice, but sometimes we have to say it several times to get her out of that mode.
In general, she’s well-behaved, but this is starting to really annoy me. Is this a phase and will it pass?
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A: One of my sons who is around the same age as your daughter went through a similar phase a few months ago. We used a combination of telling him once to stop talking like a baby and then ignoring him when he continued. He soon caught on and modified his speech with us, although I did notice he would talk “baby” to his younger brother when they were playing. As long as he wasn’t addressing a grownup in babytalk, I overlooked his tone.
Since you mention your daughter’s general behavior is good, I would continue to correct her when she slips into babyland. Keep your tone light when you remind her to speak normally, but don’t repeat yourself more than once. If she continues in that vein, you can ignore her, send her to her room for a bit, or suggest an early bedtime since she’s “a baby now.” That might nip it right in the bud.
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Overall, don’t worry overmuch about this “regressive” speech. It is a phase, and your daughter will soon be on to something else.
Do you have a parenting question you would like to see answered on this blog? Email Sarah with Parenting Question in the subject line. Sign up for Practical Parenting, Sarah’s a free, monthly e-newsletter with commonsense advice on child rearing, by visiting www.parentcoachnova.com and clicking on the newsletter tab.
Sarah Hamaker is a certified Leadership Parenting Coach™ through the Rosemond Leadership Parenting Coach Institute. She’s also a freelance writer and editor. Sarah lives in Fairfax, Va., with her husband and four children. Visit her online at www.parentcoachnova.com and follow her on Twitter @novaparentcoach.
