Home In Our Multilingual Home Letter to the Mother of a Multilingual Child

Letter to the Mother of a Multilingual Child

by Adrienne
To The Mom raising multilingual Kids


This is a post I wrote to mothers of multilingual children on my Instagram page a few years ago. A lot of people enjoyed the post and commented on it, so I decided to publish it here on my blog.

⁠To The Mother Raising Multilingual Kids


I hear your frustrations when your child refuses to speak in your language⁠
or how you want to raise your child to be bilingual but it just isn’t happening⁠

or when you try to apply the tips of another multilingual family and they don’t work out⁠

or when you’ve bought the toys, the games, the books in your target language and still your child refuses to speak one word ⁠

I understand you when you thought raising children in two or more languages was going to be easy⁠

I see you crying in the bathroom because you know you are doing everything right and still your child won’t respond in your language⁠

I understand when you say you want to give up and just raise a monolingual child⁠

I hear you switching languages in the grocery store to get your kids to behave for a few minutes⁠

I see you as you try to defend your multiple language strategies to both family members and strangers without success⁠

I understand the struggles when raising a child in a language you are a non-native speaker of⁠

or trying to teach your child your husband’s language because he isn’t around as often as you like⁠

I see your stack of never been touched how to raise bilingual children books ⁠

I have been there and I am still there struggling with each one of the above issues.⁠

But I also, see you as you celebrate the little wins of your child speaking in his target language to his grandparents or you for what seems like forever⁠

I hear you giggle with your child when they invent a new word in two or more languages⁠

I hear you reading your child’s favorite book in two languages⁠

I see you making friends whether in your area or online with other moms raising multilingual kids and sharing experiences with each other.⁠

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I am thankful for the support of those I have met around the world. You have been very encouraging with all of your advice, tips, book suggestions and shoulder to cry-on especially in this past year. Thank you!⁠

Please share this to a mother who you think may need to hear this.

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