Bringing up a trilingual child – the beginning

Those of you who are familiar with my family setting would know that we use three languages at home. I had the great pleasure to write about bringing up a trilingual child for www.trilingualchildren.com It’s a wonderful space full of great advice and wonderful stories. Below are the leading paragraphs to my article:

More delight, less doubt. Bringing up a trilingual child – the beginning

I just came back from the hospital with my small and beautiful little boy. He was an easy-going newborn who settled himself into a nice routine very quickly. I loved holding him in my arms late at night and absorbing his peace. Blissful, wonderful peace. I felt enormously happy. I felt rewarded, blessed and enriched; but my fortune was not made of money, but of affection and attachment that strengthened and deepened with every day, unconditionally, unremittingly, and peacefully.

It was in this peace of a quietly breathing newborn baby, in a room that smelled of baby shampoo, just after midnight, that I realised that I want to bring up my son as a trilingual child, that the biggest gift my husband and I can give to him is the gift of languages, an opportunity to enter and explore his parents and grandparents’ cultures and to draw strength from them.

But there are other reasons too. That night when I was looking at my son, I saw generations of people in our genealogical lines that came before us. My son wasn’t made of me or my husband only… those genes that made him where not ours only. I understood then that my son has already got a heritage, a heritage that he won’t be able to understand or access without knowing and understanding the languages that my husband and I speak. Raising him up with one language seemed unfair… both towards him and those people before us.

So there we are, living in multicultural Britain, bringing up a toddler speaking Italian, Polish and English and doing everyday things just as other families do. We are developing our routines and with those routines our toddler is grasping the languages and learns about the world. Many parents tend to get overwhelmed at this stage of their child’s development because it’s so easy to think that you need to provide additional language input on top of the usual care. To me it’s about using language while exercising daily care, while bathing, while potty training, while putting the shoes on and when collecting toys off the floor. The language comes with care and attention. It’s not separate from it. Click here to continue reading…

Unburdened dreaming

Just a few days ago I caught my little son daydreaming. He pulled a blanket on our carpet, grabbed a pillow from the sofa, and quietly lied down losing himself into some world unknown to me. I smiled understandingly.

I saw both myself and my husband in this daydreaming. We both do that– we lose ourselves in thoughts, in wondering. A lot of it is purposeful, of course. A lot of it is planning and problem-solving, and reflection on past events but not all… and thank God for that.

The dreaming that I wish I was doing more often is that in Beatrix Potter’s style, where rabbits and ducks wonderfully misbehave and talk too much. The dreaming that makes you giggle to yourself, the dreaming that ends without a list of things to do or to have. The dreaming that leaves you relaxed and entertained. Unburdened dreaming.

These days we are only supposed to have a wish list, aren’t we? Dreaming about having, dreaming about goods is encouraged, the opposite is true of dreaming fiction.

I really wish that my son will be searching the depths of his imagination for cheer, comfort and encouragement, that he will develop a strong dreaming muscle that will help him counter those dreams that consume one’s energy by pressing you to want more.

The real dreams of a real and creative child, do you still have them?

Music from Miss Potter: biographical movie about Beatrix Potter directed by Chris Noonan
Katie Melua – When You Taught Me How To Dance

One thing that for certain makes you a better parent

The longer I am a mum of my little toddler, the more I am convinced that there is mainly one thing that helps you become a better, more sensible and more loving parent and that thing is… sleep.

The more you get it, the more patient you are, the more energetic you are and the more adventurous and willing in organising your toddler’s time.

My toddler’s sleeping routine is still uneven but has recently greatly improved. His daytime sleep has also regulated itself. I suspect that three elements contributed to his better sleeping routine:
Activity: he runs around more and plays around in the garden
Diet: there’s more meat in his diet
Emotional Security: he comfortably borrowed his daddy’s big pillow to sleep on.

With this new sleeping pattern emerges a happier, stronger and more confident mama, and the stronger the mama, the better for the whole household.

So I’ll be finishing this post now. My toddler is having his afternoon nap, I’ll have it too.

Careful Caring

Someone reminded me of this post today… and I am so happy they did… I though I’ll share it with you again… It’s one of those that I should be reading to myself every day…

Postcards Without Stamps

child at play

When you have a child you think a lot about caring. You do it and you question it too. Am I doing it right? Is this how I should be looking after a child who’s ten months, one year, a year and a half, two or 16? The wondering never stops. You always look for answers. And oh yes… there are so many people, books, gurus or even companies and organizations that are delighted to tell you how to do it… naturally recommending their own preferred ways.

When you are new to the role and utterly shattered it’s all too easy to go for those choices… to be swayed by persuasion of almost anyone… and this happens precisely because you truly love and you truly care… and thus you are truly willing to extend yourselves and make those steps and sacrifices that are often prescribed as necessary and crucial for…

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