For banning my child from watching American tv

[Luna87]

I've noticed so many young children talking in strong American accents lately, I'm not going to lie - it really annoys me.

AIBU for banning my 2.5 year old from watching anything American? I prefer her to watch CBeebies so she doesn't pick up the accent. DH thinks I'm being too harsh

Can I just say, this post has absolutely nothing to do with me being xenophobic or bigoted towards Americans as some of you are saying but I'm not going to backtrack in my opinion of finding Kids that have no other American influence apart from the gogglebox speaking with strong American accents as being strange. And to me, it seems like it's rife in this generation of children.
As for the mum police who think I use the TV as a babysitter, you're completely off the mark. I'd just rather my child not stick to watching American things when she does watch, and I'm sure unless you're the most perfect of parents, your kids probably do have some form of screen time.

Good thing Tots TV isn’t still on. Children might start speaking…..French 😱

@Luna87 to be honest most of Cbeebies and Cbbc is British made stuff. It’s very rare for American programmes to be on Cbeebies/Cbbc.
Canadian, Australian, NZ and Irish programmes yes. Some co-made with British TV companies - some not.
Anything American is likely to be something Sesame Street related but that’s about it.
Stick to the Beeb and your child will be fine.

No. So despite being schooled in another language and hearing only British English at home their accent isn't anything like the accent where I am originally from.

But you are right about the American-ish accent. All the 'mixed' kids here speak this way when they switch to English.

If her teacher has an American accent will you stop her going to school?

I have always said Nvelope and eether. West Country born and bred

My son did a couple of American online cooking classes during covid. The accent was fine but bloody hell translating the recipe and measurements was a minefield.

how the actual hell do you measure a CUP of butter?!?!!

Yeah, it's easy enough to say you shouldn't get your panties in a bunch over it, but I'm actually salty too right now about the gosh darned Yanks learning kids to talk American and shit like that. Not to be all extra and all, but it's gotten to be a humungous pain in the ass. And I am so not a fan, I'm telling you - it's like being at the movies 24/7. Some folks are good with it, I guess, but it's still a big ol' no from me, know what I'm saying? I'm just not here for it, period.

I dunno, tho' - I've done the math and I figure maybe they'll ease up on it when they go off to college in the fall? Or at least by the time they graduate. Here's hoping, cuz if not I'm gonna see if I can get a refund!

The young people will be changing our ever evolving language to a more Americanised version, there is nothing you can do to change that.
as far as accents go though, I doubt it. I have an accent but my kids do not.

I am with you OP, hoping it means less tv overall. I don't want us to be any more the 51st state than we are already (thankfully lack of gun control is one aspect of US life we have not followed).

Translating recipes is definitely a pain. For example, I don't own kitchen scales.

In the US, of course, a cup of butter is easy because butter comes in sticks, each one equal to 1/2 cup.

Yabu

I grew up watching nickelodeon and the Disney channel.

My accent is as yorkshire as can be.

My own DC watch plenty of American and Australian TV (inbestigaters anyone?) But don't have the accent.

In fact if anything they have a slighty more southern accent with some words that I think they got from some teachers they've had. Eg how they say road compared to the usual yorshire pronunciation.

I was going to say this. Kids saying candy instead of sweets or talk about dollars instead of pounds.

Can I just say, this post has absolutely nothing to do with me being xenophobic or bigoted towards Americans as some of you are saying but I'm not going to backtrack in my opinion of finding Kids that have no other American influence apart from the gogglebox speaking with strong American accents as being strange.

Strange? They’re children! Children pick up on the words used around environment even more so when they hear it a lot. Parents are primarily in charge of what their children are exposed to especially young children. Your child is 2.5 and you chose to expose them (or a family member did ) to American children shows and now you find it supposedly strange, they learned and repeated the same words they’ve been allowed to hear and see many times. Your surprise and opinions of strangeness over this imo is way weirder.

Even adults adopt phrases from other countries by not only tv and movies, but books, and music.

‘Even adults adopt phrases from other countries‘. As is attested to by posters on here saying things like ‘pissed’ for ‘pissed off’, ‘ass hat’, ‘asshole’, ‘a hole’, when the context tells you they are from the UK.

As a previous poster said earlier:

*And apparently the irony of British people complaining about American English seeping into British usage is completely lost on a great many posters here.

Do any of you know why English is so widely spoken world wide? From Scotland to Ireland to Wales, North America, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, various parts of Africa...*

When my son was younger he spoke with what we thought was a Mediterranean accent, mix of Italian or Spanish or something ... we couldn't put our finger on it.
Turns out he had been watching too much LazyTown and we were miles off - it was Icelandic

I grew up in America so have an American accent. My daughter used to watch a lot of US tv, like Sam and Kat, iCarly etc. she did use some Americanisms and I said she sounded American at times.
She's 18 now and no longer does that - they grow out of it. And I have no influence- her peers do.
So you are being unreasonable- there is some great American kids TV.

I used to live a couple of sisters in their who used to do the Valley girl [American] voices with stupid giggling and really loud when they were out and about in the neighbourhood. They were early 20's and English, I'd baby sat them both when the tweens and spoke with local dialects.

The only thing that annoyed me when my ds was small, was when he used American words. I always said we're British not American. These days at 18, he often speaks with a alabama accent, which doesn't bother me so much.
There is no escaping it. Its not just TV, its online too.

That’s a very chippy update. I’m not a perfect parent by any stretch but at 2 DD didn’t watch TV, it’s not obligatory.

**User601 · Today 16:12

My teenager doesn't even watch that much TV but uses American grammar. In 20 years' time British English will have died out**

People were saying that 20 years ago and 20 years before that 😂

What are the Irish programmes?

@Reugny We’ve outgrown Cbeebies and Cbbc in my house now so programmes have changed but Roy (and it’s spin off Little Roy) was Irish. I think Baby Jake was too but I might be wrong about that one.

Most of the kids being complained about will be speaking MLE. This may sound Americanised to their British parents but actually is just a newer British accent.