To think this woman was bloomin rude!

[HowCanThisBeRight]

Was shopping earlier with my 7m old. Going around the supermarket, she was in her pram and I was chatting away to her quietly, you know the 'oh shall we have chicken for dinner' or mustn't forget to get something for daddys lunch tomorrow etc. She was smiling away and chatting her 'talk' back. Anyway as every so I passed the same woman who looked at me weird, thought maybe I had something on my face lol, Thought nothing more of it.
Got to the till and she was behind me, thenshe said 'excuse me' I replied 'hi' she said 'why on Earth do you talk to such a young child, its not like they understand ?' in quite a sneery tone.
I said ' because that's how they learn '
She replied ' well of you say so'!
Me. I don't 'say so' I know so...and carried on emptying my basket

Maybe I shouldn't of been sarcastic at the end but she was very rude and made it look like I was being odd. I wasn't eden chatting loudly or anything just general chat to my daughter

She was 100% the odd one for firstly even thinking it was an odd thing for you to be doing and secondly for approaching you like that!

I've been talking to my DS like that since he was born haha! And now at 16 months old he actually talks and or exclaims back. They so certainly learn this way!

Also, I usually get nothing but loving looks or smiles from other people!

I'd do her head in! I have long earnest conversations with the dogs and even occasionally make a comment to the hoover.

When my DD was in her oram I talked all of the time to her.
When it was time to change her into a buggy I always put it facing me.

I was told somethimg by a health visitor and I did some research which made me keep the buggy facing me. I may get some of the figures wrong ( excuse me, but it is a decade ago) but in a nutshell this is what I discovered.

There’s more children than ever with delayed developmental speech problems. One of the main reasons for this is forward facing buggies. Children may SEE more coming towards them but there is no interaction with anybody.
A child in a forward facing buggy will laugh ( on average) 4 times an hour. A child in a rear facing pram /buggy will laugh in excess of 20 times an hour!!
Children need to SEE parents lips forming the words, not just hear them. They also see facial expressions and body language.

It’s vitally important to have your child looking at you and talk to them.
A baby will say every sound made in every language by the time they are one year old - it’s all there in them, they just need to be taught how to put the sounds together. Speech isn’t just about sound, it’s specific sounds made by doing specific things with a toungue and lips.

A baby/toddler feels much more secure when they can see the face of their mother or someone they love. They still get to see things, they can look sideways and behind you but the most 8mportant thing is the talking that mummy does with them.

So this woman was a nosey rude bugger and 100% wrong.

And like most other posters, she would think I’m mad the way I talk t9 the dog- I even try and get the dogs to talk back to me!

When people point out that you are talking to yourself in public, that's when you need to worry.

Can I just point out that I wasn't the dogwalker behind @morningtoncrescent62* on the beach the other day? I never refer to my DH as 'daddy' to the dog, always his first name.

I wondered if it was a MN-er. And now I know.

I chatted to my ds so much that when he did start talking he referred to himself in the 3rd person

It’s essential, you’re doing a great job as a mum love, don’t let that silly woman get to you

I always had mine facing me if poss and chatted away and sang songs and they would smile away and google at me and laugh ignore weird lady she clearly is clueless I can’t believe she said that to you clearly has issues.

I chat to the dog on walks, I know I’m not the only one 😂 sometimes I wish he could chat back can only imagine what he’d say back
Perhaps I have issues too

I'm always walking around the supermarket having conversations in my head... at least when I've got a child with me I can prattle on to them instead and even better if it's a baby that can't answer back.

My cat is extremely good at deciding what we're going to have for tea. Much better than I am

Should also state that even now 12 years on, most of his childhood soft toys still ‘talk’ and sometimes when they’re pulling ds leg, he tells me to tell them to stop it! 🤣

That's interesting about the way buggy faces. Her pram converts to a seat and can face either way. When we use that one she faces me. We have an umbrella fold forward facing but that's just for whizzing to shop or park that's two min away and the big pram is left in car.
I'd love to read about that may Google later

MereDintOfPandiculation, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings. I’m so sorry you were bullied and socially excluded.

I was referring to people who don’t have any excuses for their behaviour. I should have made that clear. xxx

Someone said something very similar to me when DD was about 8 months old. I said she may not understand all my words, but she's learning about the cadence of speaking, the process of dialogue, and she's seeing that I'm engaged and interested with her.

Fast forward a few years and everyone comments on my daughter's extensive vocabulary, how articulate and engaging she is.

Keep on as you are, some people are just closed-minded. Sounds like you're doing a great job.

She was rude.

She clearly knows nothing about babies.

I had something similar when my twins were little, also in a supermarket. I said “I can either talk to them or they can both scream while I shop... which would you prefer?”

She marched off in high dudgeon.

The best 'conversations' are to be had with babies when you are shopping. When she's a little older she can help you find things on the shelves. "I can't see where the peanut butter is, can you see it". They love it! When she's walking she can put things like the cart/trolley for you.

My boys loved to help me grocery shop.

Haven't RTFT, but (for once - it usually annoys me when I read that!) I honestly don't think I need to! You were definitely doing the the right thing! I'm parent and a teacher, and you're absolutely right (as I already know you know!) that it's exactly how our children learn how to communicate!

My children are much older now, but (like others on this thread ) I do talk to my cats in the same sing-song voice I used for my children - I swear it helps them understand me!

In all seriousness, though, people 'of a certain age' did things differently in their day, and didn't have the wealth of research we are lucky enough to have now to know how important it is to talk to, and read to our children from birth.

You keep on having your little chats around the supermarket!

I genuinely thought everyone talked to their babies, some folks even have a baby voice for it. Kinda slow and sing songy.

I'm genuinely shocked she thought people don't talk to their babies. How odd.

Even if you (somehow) didn't realize that talking to a baby is an important part of learning speech and general human interaction, why would she care that someone was "wasting their time" talking to their child... or pet or inanimate object? (I'm not above the occasional comment to myself in public, either, for that matter!)

Some people just don't like to see other people happy and enjoying themselves, even doing something as harmless as talking quietly!

What's it got to do with her anyway ? What a nosey interfering witch .
You talk how you like .
Everyone does it even new borns .
I talk to my cat obviously I don't except her to talk back lol

If I hadn't have chatted the DD id have gone croaky from not talking, btw DD said her first sentence very clearly at 1 year old. Amazed me and the ladies at the charity shop. Now she's 3 and doesn't stop talking, her vocabulary range is amazing, carry on chatting

Oh how I wish she could see me talking to my cat. I LOVE my cat. Sorry. Had to say it

Daft woman! (My cat agrees.)

What a strange woman. How on earth does she think children learn to talk?!

I'm forever chatting to my 8 month old... she's chief in charge of remembering what we need when we go shopping, 'dd do we need beans this week?'. I'm fully aware that she has very little understanding of what I'm saying but let's face it when you're looking after a baby by yourself a lot of the time it doesn't get boring. If I didn't talk to her I'd parable say about 3 words all day till dp got home! She chats to people (babbles at them) walking past or behind us at the check out, in fact she rarely shuts up 😂

Oh yes,I have conversations with my cat . She's got a real foul mouth on her. I've told her about your experience and she said that the woman is a fucking bitch.

I talk to Dcat all the time, how else will he learn he's a furry bastard
He also talks to me, he shouts at me when I open the fridge.

The woman is clearly out of touch batshit