To teach my DD to say ta?

[Kasterborous]

Instead of thank you. DD is fifteen months old and can say words now. She can say please, of sorts,when she feels like it. I don't like the word ta much myself, but I would rather she said that than nothing. Or should I just try to use thank you from the start.

I am sure we had 'ank 'oo" or something similar and I do not think people think toddlers who cannot speak do not say they their pleases and thanks yous.

are rude

Ta isn't 'thank you'. If you want your child to say thank you then why bother with 'ta' especially if you don't use it in your everyday vocab.

I didn't teach my ds ta and he started saying thankyou when he was ready. I don't get the, it's better than nothing, point of view, my son wasn't being rude by not saying thank you when appropriate he was just learning to talk. Who would think a toddler is rude anyway?

I would personally never use Ta so I didn't want my ds to.

Ta does mean something though - everyone knows it is a baby/toddler word for thank you. I think its lovely for a 9/10 month old baby to be able to start using manners etc if they can speak and I guess I don't care whether people like ta or not, as long as I am ok with it.

I did say before no one I know uses ta as an adult but I realised I actually do and loads of people I know do also, I didn't even realise until I thought about it

I'm from Leicester and have never met a baby that wasn't taught ta.lol. I used it with my DD and no harm came to her vovabulary, she was speaking in sentences way before expected and people often used to think she was a lot older but small for her age. Nothing wrong with ta!

Why is Ta perceived as "Yuck" or "loathesome" ,though?

It only is,by people who feel they need clues because they are not quite secure enough in their own standing,

People who are secure and have nothing to prove wouldn't bat an eyelid.

My 18mo DS says 'ta' and 'yeah'. To be honest, I hate the snobbery I see on MN surrounding the word.

He could say 'ta' before he could say 'thank you', therefore he was encouraged to use it so that he got into the habit of acknowledging someone doing something for him.

Ta is very rude for some people so I don't think that it is a good idea to teach your DD to say it if it is not part of your usual vocabulary.

Ahem...

Ta does mean Thanks. It's a Danish derivative...
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=TA

So us common vile Northeners are technically right

I don't really understand why everyone thinks you have to "teach" ta/thank you to a baby that (presumably) can hardly talk .

I don't think I set out to "teach" it consciously - surely they just pick it up by hearing everyone else in the family saying it, rather than being drilled in its use? .

DD(2) usually says "Sanks" because that's what she hears the most, but does say "Sank you" on occasion.

My DD's first word was thank you (when she was 12 months old). I don't think it is beyond small DC to learn to say thank you if it has been modelled sufficiently.

Well I did Ta with all 3 of mine because it tends to be one of the first words a child learns. One syllable is easier than many for them to pick up. It only lasted a couple of months with each of them before it turned into a vague impression of thank you and they have never had problems using proper words. It's a strange issue to be upset about tbh...

Oh and all mine have good manners, even the toddler is picking up the social niceties! DS took it a bit far when I passed him his lunch the other day though, he took the plate, bowed a little and said "I thank you"... Not sure what that was about but at least he was polite

Ta means thank you. I use it on occasion. People where I grew up use it regularly. Just because you don't use it doesn't mean it's wrong.
Ta was one of DS's first words at around 8 months I don't think he would've managed 'thank you' but as someone else said he was taught to use what words he had to show his appreciation. He eventually started saying thanks - or is that common too.
I think the idea that a baby signing thank you is preferably to saying ta hilarious. Maybe the baby is signing Ta and you don't know.

Not a fan of ta at all. Mine said faffoo and Santa!

Ta is very rude for some people. Ha ha, really? That's brilliant.

Person 1: Here's your drink
Person 2: Ta
Person 1: How terribly rude!

DD has moved on from Ta to Cheers. Oh the horror

FFS, this is the most ridiculous thread I have ever read. Ta is vile? Honestly.

Ta is widely used in Scotland by adults, as is ta-ta for goodbye. Is ta-ta vile squared?

You are right flobbadobs. I thought that, so I looked it up. Ta is NOT a baby word. It is an anglicized version of tak, which is thank you in danish/ Norwegian.
The phrase thank you only dates from around 1785.
How vulgar and new fangled.Ta is much more venerable.
loving the baby signing Ta btw Tobias!