I know that if your child mis-pronounces a word you should still say it properly, but what if they have their own word for something?

[Tigerschick]

DD is 25mo. Her speech isn't wonderful but she is getting better everyday. She isn't putting words together yet but has quite a wide vocabulary.

If she mis-pronounces a word then I tend to repeat it correctly - not religiously or in a strict way. For example, one of our dogs is called Widget and she says 'tidgy' so I say, 'yes, Widget' or something similar.

My question is; what about things that she has her own words for?
She uses muslin squares as comforters and calls them 'ish'. We have no idea where she got this from and she knows what we mean when we say 'muslin' but she always says 'ish'. DH has started calling them 'ish' too and I'm not sure if this is the right way forward or if we should stick to calling them muslins.

This is just an example, there are a few other things that she has her own words for but, of course, I can't think of any right now!

I know that, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter but we want to do everything we can to help her language to develop so would welcome any advice or suggestions.
TIA

I havent had my DC yet so Ino advice but i had to come on and say that in my family Socks are Ockettes, Eastenders is EasterEggers and Gooseberries are Goozgogs. These all stemmed from little brothers words for common things. I thinks its these things that are the best bits of my childhood.

Having their own word for a muslin surely isnt going to confuse in later life. When do you ever need to ask for a Muslin in life outside of babies?

Hi my ds3 has just turned 4 and his vocabulary is amazing can have a full blown conversation with him. But since he could speak he calls cuddles 'cuggles' and now we all call them that. Its such a cute word.

I dont think your dd having her own words for her little things is any great deal. She is still only little and it can be one of those sweet little things you can tease her with when she is older and has babies of her own.

If a muslin square is a comforter then surely it can have its own name? Like a favourite teddy has its own name?

Know nothing about language development though, so can't really advise.

I thought about this too, my ds (14mths) calls milk "goo" (no idea why) and I sometimes say, do you want your "goo"? and then think I should really say milk! I just think that I'm sure he won't be calling it goo when he is 18!

Having said that, my brother used to call tomatoes "mao maos" and even now my mum sometimes calls them mao mao's.. in private obviously!

DS is 2.1 and has a great vocabulary and speaks in sentences, but his word for swimming is "bintiden". We don't know where he got it from, and he also understands when we say swimming, but we also love this word and we sometimes say it to him. Don't think it will hurt in the grand scheme.

Hi

I used to, and still do, call sultanas and raisins me-me's

I think that if she is calling the huge majority of items by their proper names, then it is fine, especially as her muslin things are comfort things to her i expect.

(Will email you soon, very pg here!!)

Thanks so much for setting my mind at rest.

If I'm honest, I knew what the answer was but it's just one of those things that has been playing on my mind.

Hi Scorpio - fingers crossed you don't have to wait much longer

Ds1 calls tractors 'bebes' and I have no idea why.

My dd couldn't pronounce her little brothers name and so instead called him "Bab-in". It stuck. He's nearly 4 now and everyone in the family, and most close friends still call him babin. I'm not sure how he'll feel about that when he's 18.

If they are things that she probably isn't going to have to describe to outsiders then I'd keep the pet name, on anything else I'd say the real word as I repeated it back.

My s-sis, Emily, is still called by the name her brother gave her when she was born and he couldn't say her name, Lemmy. She's very particular about it though. Only family are allowed to call it her and she'll correct anyone outside the family if they try to use it.

DS, 23 months has tons of his own names for things. They soon grow out of it. It sounds like you are doing exactly the right thing by just conversationally repeating the correct word, they all get it eventually when they get better at forming the letters.

I hadn't really thought about how many words DS mispronounces until today. DD has a friend over who is 6 and she is laughing her head off at all his funny baby words.

"Gee Gee" is thank you (most kids say Ah-Doo or something similar - where Gee Gee comes from I have no idea).

Deen - is Lightning McQueen the car
Goggie - is doggie
Goggie - is ice hockey
Goggie - is Sock (note the theme here!)
Uddle - is cuddle
doos - juice
doos - shoes
eeo do it - Theo do it (the TH is obviously far too demanding for a nearly 2 year old - I expect it'll be Feo soon!)

He's a real natterer will talk in really long sentences using only his versions of words, but because we know them now we understand him.

I do however do what you do which is to say
Yes and then repeat the properly pronounced word. Don't labour it and just keep it up - they all get it eventually.

Incidentally Dean has caught on for Lightning McQueen - I think that could become a family name - far too long to say otherwise!

DD1 (3.8) calls her dressing gown a unicorn she knows it's a dressing gown but refuses to call it one.

She used to call strawberries doggies I agree it's so cute when they are learning to talk.

DD2 has a lisp and calls FiFi thee-thee

Peaches in a can were christened "goldfish" by me aged 2.5. Thw whole family still call them goldfish to this day, even my DH calls them that now (obvious;y only when talking to family). I am of course perfectly aware they are not goldfish and am capable of calling them peaches!!!

These are the sort of things that make bonds in the family. Of course, you have to learn not to call something by it's 'family' name when the kids' friends are round (particularly when they're teenagers!), but there's nothing wrong with having family names for a few things. We do and I'm in my 40s. Can't think of any right now, but I know occasionally I'll say something and people look at me oddly! (Oh yes, we have a poo pudding. That one's got out into our wider community, and people dropping in on high days and holidays often ask if we've got any to spare.)

DS has always had entertaining names for things, but we have found that he grows out of most them as he learns to pronounce different sounds. Like everyone else here, I don't think it does any harm, as long as most of the time you are talking normally! Actually I do miss some of the funnier ones that DS just doesn't say anymore..

We have a few words like this. DD is now 7 and speaks perfectly well, but prawn cocktail crisps are still popcorn tails in our house
There are more, but can't think of any now!

dd2 used to call daddy Gung! lol

don't worry they go eventually

DS used to call Milk mook .. we started calling milk mook too .. he's 7 now and I can't remember when it went back to milk tbh

DD calls cuddles huggles and so do we, I'm sure it'll go the same way

The ones we liked we have adopted. Dd started calling kisses "mushes" because of the sound it made and I cannot remember the last time as a family we used the word "kiss"

There are a number of others too. I would keep it as such things form part of the special fabric of family life. Would not advocate having hundreds of special words, but a few will not hamper her language development.

ds calls his muslin mumu. i think we started that before he could speak properly. he also had lots of strange words but is gradually starting to pronounce words correctly now he's 2 1/2. he recently said 'orange' and completely surprised me,i made a big fuss about it as he'd be calling it 'odring' for a long time. he still say 'cumduer' for cucumber and 'effelent' for elephant though,but it'll come. agree with others about your DD's 'ish', or ds's mumu. no need to change those names.

It's cute. I'm quite sad that ds has grown out of this now. So sweet when he used to ask for 'Mummyduddles' (cuddles).

DD calls milk 'nilk'
bye 'die'
potato 'tatow'
tomato 'tatow'
hello 'hewow'
ninky nonk 'n'nowk'
pontipines 'po'pines'
pinky ponk 'p'powk'

amongst others

We have "kwok" for tractor and "se" for Thomas. How does that work?

my ds is almost 2.5 and he has some really cute ones

duddles - cuddles
lefunts - elephants
patkiller - caterpillar
meow - cat
kick kick - rugby ball
fimming - swimming
belly woots - welly boots
buhlocks - blocks, unfortunately it sounds a bit like bollocks!! Bit too over keen on correcting him there I think!