Dropping her T’s

[Stick0rTwist]

My daughter has just gone into Yr1 and is an articulate child, relatively smart with a love for reading.

We moved her to a new school in the new year and have noticed since then she has started dropping her t’s when saying many of her words, like water, better, bottle, little etc.

This gets corrected consistently at home as although we don’t speak the queens English (and are not snobbish by any stretch of the imagination) we would prefer her to speak properly and not get into bad habits speech wise.

Over the summer holidays she was fine, but I’ve noticed in the two days she’s been back her speech has reverted back.

So here’s the AIBU - would I be unreasonable to mention this to her teacher? Or would I sound like a massive snob 🙈

Sounds dramatic but it’s even making me want to move her school again as this was not a problem at her old school at all. Its been a direct result of moving school as it started the week we moved.

Not sure if you're for real 🤔 but exactly the same happened to me. Went from a small private school to a massive comprehensive.

Is she spelling those words correctly when writing?

Dropping of the T's does drive me nuts. I can't watch Stacey Dooley's programmes because she is one of the worst 'T doppers' offenders i can think of!!

I went through a phase as a child of dropping them.and would say things like 'war-er' for water.
My mum was forever saying ' There's a t in that word!'

Anyway it could be worse alot of the year2s that come into the service I work in put on an over exaggerated high pitched American accent. Now that is annoying when they are from Hebden Bridge and Todmorden!!

What’s wrong with his ‘sarf’ London accent? He was raised in Tooting. How is he expected to speak?

I speak French with a Parisian accent because I went to uni in Paris and then worked in Paris (with an office full of Parisians). To me I’m just speaking French.

What is "properly" though?

My dd went through a phase of dropping her ‘t’ sounds. I could tell she was mimicking someone who spoke like this. I did pull her up on it (not in a telling off way) as it wasn’t in keeping with her accent. It gradually reduced and she now very much pronounces her t’s. I’d did grate on me as she’d say those words like a cockney and it wasn’t natural. Nothing wrong with speaking in a cockney accent btw if you’re from there.

Anyway it could be worse alot of the year2s that come into the service I work in put on an over exaggerated high pitched American accent. Now that is annoying when they are from Hebden Bridge and Todmorden!!

@notacooldad that’s hilarious!!! 😂

My DD has started doing this, she’s 7. I did it too and remember my parents repeatedly correcting me but I didn't listen. Anyway once I was an adult I stopped so I wouldn’t overthink it.

You're not snobbish by any stretch...
Of course you're snobbish. Accent bias is the epitome of snobbery!

So that you can be understood by anyone, not just someone with the same accent?

my dad used to correct me about this we lived in east london and essex-pointless

DS1's got massively into the Beatles and over the summer watched every interview and film with any of the Beatles in it - and is now affecting a mild Scouse accent. It's driving me mad but I'm trying to bite my tongue as I know it won't last!!

There is nothing wrong with wanting your children to speak nicely. Keep correcting them OP.

(We live 250+ miles away from Liverpool)

Supposedly, little kids are coming to school in the States with English accents from Peppa Pig, while kids here are putting on American accents thanks to tiktok/youtube...

@AnPiscin , I know many people who don't really have an accent. They are usually people like myself in that they grew up somewhere with no strong identifiable accent and moved via university to the South East at age 18-29.

So what is the boundary between an accent and 'sloppy speech'? As in, how do you decide which pronunciation falls into which category?
Whether people can clearly understand what you mean. (also @Differentforgirls )

Using my own way of speaking, if i said something or nothing, I might say summing or no'n. It's sloppy, so I usually say them the standard way.

If someone asks you what you mean by a word or is distracted by a turn of phrase, it disrupts the flow of the conversation.
It's not snobbery, it's communication.

So what accent does everyone understand?

Pronouncing your ‘T’s

Do you live in Kent? It’s a bit of thing round those parts.

There’s been some really helpful responses so thank you. I will take the approach she’s doing it to fit in and will most likely grow out of it, so relax on the school front, but continue to gently correct her at home.

For the poster who was concerned about her childhood - she’s a very confident, good humoured, cheeky soul who is told all the time how loved she is and how proud we are of her. This is just gentle guidance, not an emotional beating, whenever we correct her.

Ok, so if I am reading this correctly, there should be one UK accent so people don't have to tolerate difference?

Not sure, what would you say?

So eradicating accents?

You can still have an accent and pronounce ‘T’s
I take it you think dropping ‘T’s sound fine then?

I think students of English often find American accents easier to understand, as long as the accent isn’t a particularly strong one.

I think if you're from the UK, it's quite easy to understand the accents from all parts of the UK.