to not want my dd's nursery to teach her to say "ta"?!

[mummy2isla]

Not to be snobby or anything .... ... but I HATE babies being taught to say "ta" - my dd (11 months) has just started in nursery and all the nursery staff tell her to say "ta" all the time - I don't like it, but have the feeling I would be a bit awful to ask them not to?

I use pre-verbal as in not speaking in proper sentences (my dd did not have tons of words at 11mo). I'm sure that your baby was at that stage at one point AitchTwoOh, and at that point did you care whether it said "da" instead of "daddy"/"dad"/"father"? etc.? I'm curious, rather then trying to provoke.

keeeerrr-ist. how many times?

I have been known to say ta on occasion. i just don't like the blank thing. and i never saw the point of teaching the call and response of 'what do you say?' 'ta' to my child. nor 'what do you say?' 'thankyou'. but as it happens, it was one of her earliest words, presumably because we use it often in this house.

so it would have been Most Odd to have her come home from nursery saying a blank 'ta' because she wouldn't sound like she lived in this house. THIS was what was giving the OP the wobbles, she said this herself. you're all just trying to be so right-on that you're missing the point.

cory, I agree with you. I'm a Tottenham girl, and speaking to lecturers at uni I have to cut out the slang talk in order to "hobnob" efficiently. It is an advantage to be able to chat properly in the right situation.

actually dd1 really didn't say da or ma much, hardly ever in fact. she made noises and then words for things. if she wanted to get our attention she didn't use our name, iykwim?
since me and dh don't habitually refer to each other as ma and da or mum and dad, she didn't pick out those terms. she picked out animals and their noises from books first, as i recall. i remember her satying 'tortoise' on her first birthday, funnily enough, cos we were away from home and there were tortoises on the wallpaper.

OOH, I've never been quoted on a thread before . How thrilling! I feel like I've finally "made it" on MN

I still think the OP and, you Aitch are wrong to worry about "Ta" because:

Child won't necessarily continue to use ta, as it is a staging post to saying thankyou,

that is, as I said, easier for a child to say.

I sort of see what you are getting at, because I, for instance would feel uncomfortable about a child learning "Ain't"

However even in those circumstances, , I would not see it as a big enough deal to mention to the Nursery, because I would think that MY influence on the child's speech development is likely to be greater than Nursery's.

Oh, and as others have said, I still think it's better that a child learns a polite response than nothing, and indeed I would be pleased that the Nursery was doing this.

So there

You are right I am sure. Totally.

but I still don't like ta.

yy but more to the point, abdab, do you think i am ugly? would you hate to grow up in my ugly household? or do you know a farking JOKE when you see one?

and there's NO NEED for a staging post if the child can already say thank you. it's a retrograde step. much like my posting on this thread...

y'know... i'm still waiting for cthea to get her arse over her to revoke that backtracking line. one thing i am is consistent. almost annoyingly so.

I don't know what you're all worrying about.

Soon your little toddlers will be teenagers who won't say ta, or even thank you, you will generally get 'cheers, mum' or 'nice one'. Then what will you do?

I don't like ta, is nothing to do with class (I am working class fwiw) but is just one of those words I hate. Alongside gateaux (as in succulent portion of fresh gatueax, always wrongly spelt, in the crap restaurants that DP likes to try and take me to), waste paper basket (just say bin) and couch (it's a sofa).

Ain't is nothing. I say entcha instead of aren't you, and horror of all horrors, there's no T in water

And when ain't is used, sometimes there's not even a T on the end of that!

not read all of this but I hate the word "ta", awful awful awful. Would rather not be thanked.

My mum and my SIL say it to my DD (16 months) and I cringe but I think its looks snobby/difficult to make an issue of it.

I am sure nursery will say it too but if DD starts using it (hopefully not) I will just respond with the full "thank you" and hopefully she will stop.

PS) I consider myself working class ish. Just horrible word.

YANBU, I hate the word Ta too - DS will learn some form of Thank You when he's ready.

is the word ta actually used anywhere in this country still? Except for it being "taught" to babies?

I have never heard an adult say "ta"

How about cheers big ears instead

junglist We say : "Cheers Big Ears", followed by "Thanks, Big Pants" from the other person, in my house.

But then, I am from Essex

I am still about the extreme Ta hatred, but then I get apoplectic about apostrophes ...........

Aitch I worship the ground you drip upon

Off out now to enjoy the sunshine

i hear 'ta' all the time round these parts! i really dont see anything wrong with it, i can think of worse things they could say, and at 11 months its just easier for them to say isnt it?

on the other hand i've never taught either of my two to say 'ta' and have never heard them say it, but i would not mind if they did say it tbh.

I was trying to work it out for ages!! There's me claiming intelligence duh!

YABU, because no one but Brits gives a flying fuck about this like this.

'well i personally don't like it much when dd comes home from nursery speaking in a broader accent than mine (as she does occasionally). meh, maybe it's class, maybe it's simply that she doesn't sound like my child, but someone else's.'

Mine sounds like West Coasters.

The horror! The horror!