Daycare question. What if they don't speak much English?

AlyRally

So, I LOVE my daycare. There's two ladies that keep 8 kids in their basement. SO nice. Rowan loves them. Super affordable and like a block from my house. Perfection, right?

The only issue I have is that they don't speak English. Well, fragmented English. They can understand if I speak really slow and they give back fragmented answers. I don't have a problem with this now, and I really would love Rowan to learn Spanish as he learns English anyways...but I'm worried that they won't be helping him with his English AT ALL. Of the other kids there, all but two are hispanic as well, so I have a feeling not a lot of English goes on during the day. 

Would you be concerned about this as the time gets closer to when LO should start to learn a few words? I realize its not NOW, but...do you think I should be looking for a new daycare?  

rlscheck

I wouldn't worry.  There are lots of families where a parent speaks in one language and the other in a different one.  So they hear each ~50% of the time and do just fine.  I think it'll be great for him! 

Edit: It might help that you start learning some basic Spanish so that you'll know what your LO is talking about if he starts to use it in a year or two!

mrs.kapow

I wouldn't worry. It's not like you don't speak English at home. He'll get inundated with that on the weekends and evenings.  I think it'll be a nice bonus for him, though you may want to learn some yourself so you can understand what he's learning!

NicoleWright8

Our daycare is the same way. However, I prefer for them to speak to DS in Spanish only. DH and I can teach him the English at home and of course once he's school age he'll learn at school. I may have a different opinion because I am Hispanic and was never taught Spanish growing up. I learned later on in high school which was a completely different experience and I feel like it put me at a disadvantage because now I've never felt comfortable speaking Spanish with fluent speakers.  

cporfido1981

 I would ask myself these questions ...

Do your instructions for care get understood ? If the DCP had an emergency or questions could they properly relay the information ?  Are they licensed in your state ?

 

I really don't think that Spanish as the primary language at daycare is a huge deal , especially if they are a great DCP . They are hard to find.

D_Nett86

My ILs only speak Spanish to DS and they use to watch him for me while I was working. I don't think it is a big issue because I always talk to him in English and my DH speaks to him in both, most of the time English though. I always joke that my DS is probably already talking (in Spanish) and I don't have a clue what he is saying.

kdello

As long as they could effectively communicate any problems to you and understand somewhat complicated baby-related instructions ("use this cream twice a day on his arm and give him four drops of this medicine before his afternoon bottle") I think it's fine. 

I have some friends that speak one language to their kids while the other spouse speaks english. While the kids' language skills are a little slower to manifest due to the two languages, they quickly made up for the slight delay by understanding both languages very well!  

AlyRally

cporfido1981:

 I would ask myself these questions ...

Do your instructions for care get understood ? If the DCP had an emergency or questions could they properly relay the information ?  Are they licensed in your state ?

 

I really don't think that Spanish as the primary language at daycare is a huge deal , especially if they are a great DCP . They are hard to find.

I think they understand English better than they can speak it. All of my requests about food/bottles/etc. have always been followed to a T, and I do think they could handle things & communicate to me in an emergency. They are lisenced by the state, and if anything really awful ever happened, her husband (who works at home) speaks perfect english...so I know he could translate.

My concern has always been just what Rowan would learn from them. I hadn't thought about the fact that in some families, each parent speaks to the child in a different language and LO ends up learning both. 

Thanks ladies!!  

aurorabride

I wouldn't worry about it at all. Our nanny, who has been with us since DS was 8 months speaks only spanish to him during the day and DS is now fluent (at a 3 year old level) in both english and spanish.  Only issue as he started taking was that sometimes he would use a spanish word that I didn't understand (luckly DH speaks spanish).  Now if he speaks spanish to me and I don't know the word, I can ask him what it is in English and he'll tell me.

 

 

katie277s

I wouldn't worry at all.  If anything, it is helping him become bilingual.  My oldest son went to a Chinese speaking preschool for 2 years, was fluent in Chinese and never had a problem with English.