(image from Amazon.com)
See that bag of gummy bears up there? 6 pounds. Yes. It’s huge…and way more gummy bears than anyone needs.
I have one in my cupboard.
How did it get there? Well…now, that’s a little bit of a story. See, Lo Gung and I are trying to raise our children to be bi-lingual. English, obviously, is a shoe-in. They live in America! My entire side of the family speaks English! Piece of cake.
Chinese is a bit trickier. My husband is a native of Hong Kong, but is not here during the day. I am fluent in Chinese, but…well, it’s still my second language. And the things that I have learned to say sometimes don’t cover what I need to say while parenting. So, try as I might, I end up speaking English to the kids. A lot.
It’s been a struggle to get Ming Wai to speak in Chinese, ever since she learned to put together complex sentences in English. In fact, that was the week she stopped putting together ANY phrases in Chinese. She had a lot to say, and it was easier in English. She still has a basic set of Chinese nouns and verbs to draw from, but sentence construction is beyond what she thinks she can do. (And for a little girl whose biggest worry in life is being embarrassed…what she thinks she can do is a pretty big deal.)
Now, fast forward to last week. We were on our weekly family outing to Costco to pick up whatever we had deemed essential that week. Lo Gung was off at the pharmacy picking up something, and I was wandering through the aisles, trying to stay close by, trying to keep the kids occupied. Suddenly, I hear a clear little voice: 媽媽, 我 要 買.
I looked down at my kids. One cherubic little girl was looking up at me, uncertainly. What did you say?
“媽媽, 我 要 買”
That’s what I thought. “Mommy, I need to buy that.” When she realized that she’d said it right, the uncertainty in her face was replaced with pride and she lit up with a smile. It was beautiful.
We wheeled back around to see what had caught her eye. It was a huge case of Mike & Ikes. And it was $12. And it went into the cart. (Daddy later switched it out for an enormous bag of gummy bears that was half the price.)
Do you understand why I bought it? Why I let a little girl talk me into buying POUNDS of candy? It was because it was in Chinese. It was because it was a full sentence, crafted by her, and spoken in Chinese without prompting. It was because it had never happened before. And it was because I was proud of her, and she knew it.
And you’d better believe that the only way she gets to eat any of them is to spout out more Chinese. One gummy bear for each syllable. Heh. These gummy bears are going to last a while!
I do the same thing! It was great to have just been in Brazil, too, where Gabi's Portuguese always improves, even if just for a few weeks. Her Grandmother there will buy her whatever she asks for if it's asked for in Portuguese. Bribing our way to language pathways in the brain is totally okay in my book!
ReplyDeleteOh, what a moment! Of course you had to buy it! If she remembers meeting the Tongginator, tell her the Tongginator is VERY impressed. And maybe even slightly jealous.
ReplyDeleteI understand completely. When my oldest said "please" for the first time, I did EXACTLY what she wanted. :) And how fun that the same thing that your girl asked for in Chinese would continue to help encourage speaking MORE Chinese?
ReplyDeleteI think that is just brilliant parenting! And I would have tossed that in the cart in a millisecond.
ReplyDeleteOh, I completely understand this. If Garrett comes up and signs for something without being prompted - he gets it. If there comes a day when he actually speaks, I might buy him a car if he asks for it.
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