Why do small children put -y sounds at the end of so many words?
There are basically two reasons this occurs.The first reason is, it is in the input. As other commenters have noted, English has a regular diminutivization process where we add "-y" to a word to make it "cute" (chirpy, happy, sappy, baby, piggy, doggy, Leon-y, etc..). While individual parents may choose deliberately withhold this kind of input from their child, it is demonstrably true that most caregivers say X-y words to their children with high frequency. We know enough about child language devlopment at this point to know that children pick up on this kind of pattern quite early -- likely as early as 9 months of age. It is no surprise that they are inclined to copy it in their early productions.The second reason owes to a kind of "conspiracy" between English words and universal prosodic preferences.Core Anglo-Saxon words tend to have a CVC structure (where C means consonant and V means vowel). For example, dog, cat, pig, bone, dad, mom, sis, cup, bowel, knife, hot, bead, pipe, etc..It is a universal tendency (across many different languages) for syllables to be CV, and for words to consist of two CVCV syllables (sometimes called a metrical foot). A CVC syllable is "bad" (compared to a CVCV sequence) because it has a coda consonant (after the vowel).In the case of English, the diminutive "-y" has a wonderful side effect - it turns a "bad" CVC syllable into a metrically perfect CVCV foot: dad --> daddy, etc.. Thus, the English diminutivization process is supported both by input frequency, and by universal syllable well-formedness principles.
Is it correct to use this word - 'Children's'?
Absolutely - as other answerers have pointed out.But only in the possessive sense. If you're trying to say that something (or some things) are owned by multiple children:That's the Harrison children's grandmother.Those are the children's books.This is because the plural of "child" is "children" - using the ~'s~ indicates possession by the children. The ~'s~ is never, ever used (correctly!) to indicate plural. If you want to talk about one child, then possessive is "child's." if you talk about more than one child, the possessive is "children's."For something like, say, "cat" where the plural is the standard "cats" you would use ~s'~ to indicate possessive:Those are the cats' toys.That is the cats' treehouse.PLEASE PLEASE please don't ever use ~'s~ to indicate multiple! It's very wrong and far too many otherwise educated Americans do it wrong:We sell cucumber'sCorrect: We sell cucumbers.We just got a shipment of cereal box's and soup'sCorrect: We just got a shipment of cereal boxes and soups.One of my pet peeves...
Parents of children 4-6 is Darn a bad word?
Do you consider darn a bad word for your children to say. I was at my friends house earlier and her little brother (4) said darn it, (just darn it as it is writen) and like her mom freaked she swatted his butt and put soap in his mouth. and then another time in my karate class i was working w/ this girl (6) and i told her she was pretty darn good. And she goes into beserko mode telling the teacher i said a bad word. when i was little i wasn't able to say damn but i could say darn. Is this a new thing
How can we teach our children good behavior? Are words or example more important?
You can teach your child good behavior by showing them your good behavior every where you go and in your home as well ! All children watch and listen to everything that is being said or done by those who they are around a lot ! Children are very curious which is wonderful ! Do not use bad language around your child for they can repeat it any where you all are ! It is like this - you are out in public with your child or children ! You say a bad word and the child repeats it ! Then you turn around and people who go to your church are standing right there and heard your bad language and also heard your child say it to ! Now you may have to explain to your church family right then and there why you used that word and your child did too ? Now about your actions ! You have a gun in your house and your child sees you checking it out ! You put it down just for a second ! You look and see that your child has picked it up to play with it or to do with the gun what the child seen you do with it ! You are not fast enough so the gun goes off and some 1 is hurt or dead ! Always keep your gun on you or locked up so that no child sees you with it or can touch it ! Thanks
How do you put something into your own words?
quite simple, you rephrase it differently. for example: "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog". i can say this in a number of different ways, such as "the fox that is quick and brown jumped over the lazy dog" or i can say the same thing with less information "the fox jumped over the dog" all three sentences say the same thing, but are said differently. alternatively you could say the same sentence from a different point of you. like this "the lazy dog watched as the fox jumped over him" another good way of putting something into your own words is to use a thesaurus. for example, instead of saying the fox is quick and the dog is lazy i could say "the rapid brown fox jumped over the idle dog" (rapid being a different word to describe quick and idle being a different word to describe lazy) word of warning - whilst using the thesaurus make sure you know what the word means, do not simply pick the most intellectual sounding word as it may not always fit the context. for example "the quick auburn fox jumped over the lazy dog" (auburn being an alternative word for brown) in this example the word auburn does not make grammatical sense.
Do/Did your children have to learn "sight words" in kindergarten?
Whoa... sorry about all the thumbs down everyone, it's not me. And I do remember flash cards as a kid, but not in kindergarten and we were allowed to sound them out. We didn't have to know them as soon as we looked at them. They actually gave us a print out of all the sight words they will be learning throughout the school year. The words are in order of how they will teach them, so I know what words are coming up. I sometimes teach her the next word ahead of time, if I think she is ready, but I don't go too far in advance because I don't want her confused. She has been doing excellent and I'm so very proud of her! It's just crazy what they teach in kindergarten these days though.
Which words do parents often discourage their children from using?
Very interesting question. For the most part we strive to speak kind, loving, and positive in our family. We don’t expect our kids to do anything we can’t do. Of course this is within reason. We as parents (husband and wife) can do things our kiddos aren’t allowed to do to. With speaking in mind though we don’t use curse words with our kids and we encourage them to use good wholesome words that build others up rather than tear them down. This goes for our own self talk as well. We are mindful not to use phrases like ,”I can’t”, “I’m stupid”, or the like. We use the bible as our life guide and it teaches us to use good language so that’s what we works towards. We aren’t perfect, we are human, and we are works in progress. We should always have a dose of grace and mercy for one another. Establishing gentle reminders when out on line is always a good idea. One thing I have told my youngest son is……”that ugly Christmas swearing doesn’t look very good on you.” It’s kinda a fun little reminder about coming out of character. One thing to bear in mind with this though is to have a moment of communication too so we can understand where the behavior has come from.Processing our emotions should be looked at as a good thing Learning to do it in a healthy way is even better. Hope this helps! Happy parenting![1]Ephesians 4:29–3229 Watch your talk! No bad words should be coming from your mouth. Say what is good. Your words should help others grow as Christians. 30 Do not make God’s Holy Spirit have sorrow for the way you live. The Holy Spirit has put a mark on you for the day you will be set free. 31 Put out of your life all these things: bad feelings about other people, anger, temper, loud talk, bad talk which hurts other people, and bad feelings which hurt other people. 32 You must be kind to each other. Think of the other person. Forgive other people just as God forgave you because of Christ’s death on the cross.Footnotes[1] Bible Gateway passage: Ephesians 4 - New Life Version
Opinion on teaching children "sight words"?
Don't worry- schools are still using both methods. Grade schools (kindergarten on) always use both methods. Sounding out and blending words is a phonics skill that every child needs to know, and it is taught straight away from week 1 of school. Sight words are actually common words that typically won't work if sounded out. For example, the word "were" will not work if sounded out. Therefore, most sight words are words the child will see frequently and needs to know, but usually will not be able sound at that young of an age. In preschool, the children are typically taught their letters and sounds. They may or may not be introduced to sight words. Both methods are necessary and used. Hope this helps!