Things Jerry Says #10 – Speaking Singlish.

Today’s “Things Jerry Says” is about him speaking singlish! This happened a while back when the husband wasn’t in town. I remembered i was out, driving with the 2 kids and my mum heading some where in the west for dinner and i was trying to keep the kids entertained by talking to them. Obviously, Jerry is the only one who can really hold conversations with me, but anything to ensure that they don’t fuss.

The 2 kids are nicely strapped in their car seats at the back while i drive, and the whole time, i had my eyes on the road. I kept talking to Jerry and realised that Jerome is like totally quiet, but i couldn’t turn around to check on him.

C: jerry what is didi doing?
J: siannor. .
C: Huh? What’s did you just say?
J: didi SIAN LOR!
C: OOhhh! Ok. (3 seconds lag later) Could you talk to Didi then?
J: I dunwan!

Hmmm.. i don’t know where he picked up the “sian lor” from! But what i do realise is.. i can’t control entirely what the kid is exposed to and the stuff that he needs to learn correctly. There are just so much people out there in his environment that’s influencing him. It could even be the random stranger in the same lift as you that made a comment and it just stuck with him. In this journey of parenting, i am constantly fighting all the ‘bad influencers’ in his life with the limited amount of time that i have because each day, he comes home with a new vocabulary that isn’t taught by me and may not necessary be correct.

I find it a struggle. Broken english, bad grammar (where going? vs where are we going?) and singlish. I can only correct that much at this point in time and instruct those people closer to me to watch their tongue and speak properly. That said, not everyone around me can speak properly. Is anyone having the same struggle as me? How then do you cope and overcome this? Do share! I would love to hear some tips or similar experiences! Thanks in advance!

p.s. not sure if anyone noticed in the picture, but Jerome is having his own ‘inflight entertainment’ in that picture. It wasn’t taken on the same day the conversation happened, but this is the only recent picture i had of the kid in the car seat.

if you have liked this post, do check out the rest of the “Things Jerry says” on the blog! There are a lot more funnier ones!