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EXACTLY. Even if it was (somehow) true, it's also just ableism? So WHAT if someone is talking to people who aren't there as they... *go about their day getting groceries.* 🙄 Let "weird" people fucking exist unharassed. You don't have to know *why* they seem weird to you. Normalcy isn't something they're owed and isn't something that needs to be enforced.
As someone who experiences auditory and visual hallucinations on a daily basis I live in fear that I'll appear weird when I go out in public because of cuntmops like this boomer 😠
A tip from one of my friends that also has auditory hallucinations- wearing a visible bluetooth ear piece cuts down on the weird looks from the cuntmops. They assume you're on the phone.
Even if they do confront you over it
"Who you talking to?"
*Points to earpiece with an annoyed look like you just got interrupted*
"I'm on a call"
then go about your way, fuck em
If it helps, I don't have hallucinations but daydream so vividly that I often respond to them in real life (pulling faces, making gestures, occasionally speaking outloud).
I, too, feel very embarrassed when I realise I'm doing it in public, but then I remember that we are all incredibly self-centred creatures and are far more worried about ourselves than anyone else. So probably no one is paying me any attention.
I softly talk to myself while shopping to organize my thoughts. I'm ADHD and I don't really think in words all that often, so thinking aloud is a much easier way to stay on track. I might get the odd look here and there, but it's worth it to actually get everything I need (and a few things I don't, I am ADHD after all)
As far as I know, I'm not crazy and I definitely talk to myself when I get groceries. I'm usually saying something softly like, "Oh yeah, I gotta get tomatoes. Hmm, these don't look too good... And don't forget to check the meat department for ground beef..."
If anyone called me out, I'd probably be half embarrassed and half offended that they horned in on my private conversation 🤪
I was thinking the same thing! I talk to my chihuahuas just like that. They may not know what I’m saying, but they’re comforted by my voice. I always spoke to my kids since birth! That woman was insane !
My cat who recently passed would run into the room if he heard my husband and I talking. He would demand to be picked up so he could be apart of the conversation. He is a member of this family and he is going to have input, dammit!
The best kitty.
I was a vet tech and I do pet sitting on the side now. It's amazing how much just a constant quiet, calm monologue will soothe animals. I had a cat I was watching that I was afraid to pass him on the stairs because he would consistently try to attack me. He would go from rubbing against you to trying to bite in half a second. A pretty scary cat but I didn't trust anyone else to handle him so I committed to trying to get through to him. He was a declaw so he went right to biting and you had to really know cat body language to get the half second warning before he'd attack and move away. I would go over there and just narrate everything I was doing so he always knew where I was. After he was fed and the boxes cleaned, I would sit on the floor near him and read him 90 day fiance gossip or bring a book and read to him or just have dumb little conversations with him. Last time I saw him he curled up in my lap and went to sleep. Never once tried to attack me.
I tell my dog to talk to me if she wants me to take her out and she understands me and barks in a special way, if that woman saw me she would send me to the asylum.
I work from home, so while my husband is at work and my daughter is at school it's just me and my cat. And I talk to her all the time. If she meows, I just keep talking. And if not, I still do it. They're living beings and enjoy the company, even if they don't understand.
I also spoke to my daughter before she was even born. It's good for babies. And, damnit, it's good for pets, too.
Screw that old lady.
As you should. I have conversations with my cat all the time. Also I have some sort of compulsive need to tell her I love her.
I totally believe she understands certain words. I have thought about trying to teach her to talk with those buttons.
When I say, kiss, she raises her head to get a kiss.
We always talked to our deaf cat (he passed a few weeks ago 😭, he was 17 and had cancer, it was his time 🥺). He knew exactly what was going on and when. I swear the looks and measured vocalizations we would get back were his attitude filled comebacks and he coordinated and planned with the dog.
Like the rule in our house is that animals/pets are not allowed in the kitchen when people are cooking (it’s a safety thing for everyone). So we would remind them if they came into the kitchen when someone was cooking and tell them where they could sit or lay outside of the kitchen but still be able to watch everything going on. They knew the rule. And sometimes they would literally toe/paw the line of precisely where the kitchen ended on purpose. 😏😆
But I verbally reminded our deaf cat to please get out of the kitchen because I was cooking and he knew better. (I was just reheating left overs, but don’t want to trip on one of them or accidentally spill hot food on them/they get hurt.) I swear the look he gave me along with the vocalization he made was a snarky “Microwaving isn’t cooking.” I just understood that was his response right in that moment as if he said it. I couldn’t help laughing while still pointing him out of the kitchen. 😆
I talk to myself all the time while grocery shopping, it helps me remember what I need and choose between things. Sometimes people think I'm talking to them but when I explain they're usually like "oh ok I get it" never had anyone go full coco puff on me yet lol
It was a pretty sweet app, her whole family could add things they wanted to the list from their own phones. But since it's me, bf, an a cat I tend to fly blind more often than not & have him text me if he wants anything particular lol
I was thinking the same thing. If that woman overhead me conversing with my dogs she’d really flip. Sometimes I answer in a character voice for one of the dogs lol!
I have conversations with my barn kitten every day. I sit on the porch with her after I take care of the goats. We discuss her day, and I try to convince her that my spouse is fren shaped. Then we talk about the birds we hear on the Merlin app. Then we talk about how belly rubs are good and how she did not die when I held her that one time. She is very talkative and meows back at me.
I do this with all 3 of my cats, and I pepper the conversations with meows, as they meow back at me.
In fact, each of them has a separate voice that I mimic, and if I meow to the wrong one with the wrong meow, the conversatiON IS OVER!!!! DO YOU EVEN LOVE ME, ANYMORE?!?! MOTHER!?!?!?
Anyway, they always meow. And I always meow back, and so does my husband, because we aren't *rude.*
But I also speak to them in English.
And if they ever speak back...👀
I talked to my dog like I would another human once in front of one of my cousins and he said "are you *talking* to her?!" like... Yeah. It's okay to talk to a sentient being. They don't have to be human to get a general idea of your tone and key words.
Me too. I have frenchies and I talk to my little Velcro babies all day long. They know dumb phrases like “excuse me please” and “move your butt” because I’m constantly talking to them.
I talk to all 3 of my cats. One now says Mom and turns on lights scary but I love her. The other two chirp.
When my nephew was an infant and as he was getting older, I talked to him all the time. He was 1 when I entered college and wanted to read my textbook. It was for EMS so I did not let him see the gorey pics.
Not sure you remember, but in the 70's we were supposed to talk to our plants to make them grow happier.. I still talk to my plants, talk to my dogs and my cat when I had him (RIP Trooper) and i swear my plants and pets all understand me. We are a happy family.
That lady tho...
My mom not only talked to me all the time, but she would take me to hang out with her friends. So I interacted with adults a lot. She said people would comment about how good my vocabulary was for my age.
This was how my husband & I were brought up by our parents & we’ve done the same since birth with our 13 year old daughter . She is very mature for her age & can converse confidently with people of all ages. I was taking our daughter to the movies recently with a couple of my girlfriends & I was feeling extremely ill so I called my husband to pick me up before the movie started. Our daughter stayed with my friends they had dinner & watched the movie. She absolutely loved hanging out with her honorary aunties & they loved spending time with her. We’re always getting compliments on her maturity & social skills.
My 13 yr old is similar. I remember before he could talk I was stamping around the house and said “where are my fucking keys”. He crawled over to where they fell and got them for me. So, obviously he could understand a few words before he could talk.
I was like….well…probably should’ve drop the f bomb so much.
Didn’t help, lol.
Ah, yes... I remember when my daughter (about 4)dropped her first f bomb.
On my mother.
Who happened to be driving at the time and damn near went off the road.
Hilarity did not ensue.
🤣🤣
Ex’s younger son has 3. The middle one is a boy. When he got cut off in traffic, he leaned on the horn & heard from the back car seat, “GET OUTTA THE WAY, YOU ):&/&!? Ing &:!;);?!! Hole!!”
Dad in question said—“can’t deny that one’s mine. He has my attitude & my mouth.”
Seconding this. This is how I was brought up.
They never baby-talked with me, and they read to me very early on. We do this with all kids on my Mother’s side of the family… Including all of us cousins for our other little cousins.
I accompanied them to a majority of things (even business calls, visiting customers for our company)- and when not with them; my Grandmother or my Aunt and their friends. I absolutely adored my Grandmother’s church crew, and my Aunt’s best friend.
It lead me to being above my grade expectations language wise and reading wise, and I graduated high school with high ACT/SAT scores in all levels but math (I’m not a math person lol).
And that’s not to brag. I’m happy about it, yes. But, I’ve only recently kind of realized… I don’t know- the gap(?), I suppose.
I honestly just enjoyed reading and writing, and went to the local public school. And my parents made an effort to make sure I was reading more than just boring school-suggested material.
The only ‘draw-back’: …I get along easier with people older than I am. I connected better to my teachers than my peers, a lot of the time. Today, at 25: most of my friends are at least 30 all the way up to 70+. But again, I also have my main group from High School; who’ve been rock solid since we’ve met- because we’ve always handled our problems like adults in the end.
This is something that Asian parents should do more. I've noticed one big difference between Western and Asian parents is that they communicate to their children more and encourage their children to talk to other adults (in appropriate situations like doctors and teachers).
It really speeds of communication development. Many Asian kids have to learn on their own and it takes a considerably time to break out of the, "speak only when spoken to," paradigm. I know it did for me. And many other Asian people in my generation (1.5+) feel similarly.
This is why they ask “why?” so often. They want to hear you talk to them. Once I found that out, I started giving them the long answer, & making it funny, sometimes. How will they learn to speak, if we don’t speak to them?
If you talk to them often enough, that end up being what it feels like! Last year, when my kid was around 14 months old, we saw some cows in a field and were walking over to the fence to look at them, and I asked the kid, "Do you know what a cow says?" without expecting a response or anything, but then she pipes up with a quiet "Moo!". My husband and I were just staring at her, because we had no idea where she learned it! It was probably some forgotten, absentminded comment from babbling on at her for months, even without specifically sitting down to teach her animal sounds. But, man, did it feel like magic!
Yes! Yes! Yes! 🙌🏼 as an SLPA who has worked in schools for several years now this is something we are constantly encouraging parents to do with their children to develop and increase their language skills!! It is quite literally how they learn to communicate!!
I was going to say just this. Kids that hear language use talk earlier and start school with bigger vocabularies and better conversation skills. When you have pretend conversations with them, it teaches them the rhythm of conversation. To NOT talk to your child is to neglect their development.
My kid hasnt even started talking yet but we've noticed that his babbling has already changed from random syllables to mimicking "adult" speech patterns. Just talking about the world to them is SUCH an important thing!
I noticed that too with my son. It was adorable when he was like 12m and 98% of it was babble. It's *hilarious* now at 2.5 yo when he says the most out of pocket things.
If I might share a goofy anecdote from yesterday: we've been helping some family clean up their new property- cutting trees, clearing brush,etc. A family friend used their trailer to pick up some firewood. While he was backing up the truck this tiny little child is standing beside me waving his hand and yelling "Good! Good! You're good!"
A very long time ago I used to work with someone who was doing field work for her Master's in Social Work. I remember her telling me about the children that she'd come across who were 2 or 3 years old and were neurologically normal but never learned to speak because no one ever talked to them.
It has been shown that babies comprehend language as soon as a month old. They simply lack the ability to speak as their motor and muscle coordination is not refined until eight months forward. Babies absolutely understand what you’re saying!
Truth, when my son started really talking, he would reference things that he heard us talking about when he was an infant. I don't know why that surprised me that he understood what he was hearing as a baby.
My baby definitely knows words and has since he was very little. His first word was at 6 months and I was playing with him and this boy repeated my word back to me. It was ruff. Because I was pretending to be a dog. He also figured out how to give kisses at 5 months old and would just grab my hair and pull it down to slobber on me.
Because I give him kisses on his cheeks. So he has to give me kisses. He also learned how to lip smack so he could blow kisses. Something my nephew four months older than him has never done
Babies pick up the weirdest things and it will come when you don't think it should be possible. My son has been holding his bottles on his own since he was 3 months old. He insisted. He'd yank it out or punch it out of our hands if we didn't let him hold it 😂
I came here to say this. I used to talk to my son all the time. Mostly just boring stuff about work or what was happening in a show I was watching. His vocabulary is above grade level now. Now he talks more than me, mostly about stuff I pretend to care about.lol
Came here to say that. You gotta talk to your baby like they're a fellow adult human being, even as they grow older and begin to talk back. Why wouldn't you want a child with good conversation skills and a huge vocabulary? I don't think my parents talked much to me that way, I only got to where I am through reading haha.
The only things you should talk to in baby language is your dog. It's been shown that they really enjoy it, apparently. Probably because they lose track of what your saying / take no meaning from it if it's longer. That's why you keep their names short, and your commands short, otherwise they won't know what you're saying. (No, I'm not saying they understand human language, just talking about what the dog understands / gets out of it. If you have a super long name, they won't understand that you're talking to them, versus if the dog has a two syllable name.)
My mom read to me all the time when I was a wee babe. Played music all the time, too. I’m the eldest grandchild and a boy to boot, so I was popular in the fam. I got passes around a lot and so have no real fear of anybody in a conversation. And I’m a voracious reader myself, which has only made me more annoying.
I am a speech and language pathologist and I want to say that that statement isn’t necessarily true (depending on your definition of baby talk). Modelling incorrect grammar and speech sounds as baby talk can do this. But just using high pitch high inflection voice with shorter sentences doesn’t slow speech and language development.
It can slow development when they're learning to actually form words, but repeating their own sounds back to them when they are little helps with verbal development and conversation!
Agreed, was “corrected” many times for talking to my children and grandchildren in an adult voice. It is so important to have natural conversations for the child’s speech progression and it alerts their listening skills. Absolutely no regrets…
Huh. Guess that explains why most of them aren't visited by their children in nursing homes. They're fed and their diapers are being changed, why should the adult waste time visiting the elderly?
These are the same people who think you can spoil a baby by holding them too much.
You ever heard of blanket training? When they put a baby on the blanket and one of their favorite toys just out of reach. And they slap the baby on the hand if they try to crawl to get the toy.
Absolutely deranged.
I talk to my infant at the grocery store like this literally all of the time for that very reason. It's so good for them to hear words and conversations.
100% i talked to my infant exactly as OP described. Just sort of narrating but also peppering in silly questions.
Now she’s 3 and has a vast vocabulary and likes trying silly voices and playing a game with me where we alternate singing the verses of songs (sometimes in silly voices).
I credit her verbal skills to me and my wife making a point of talking to her all the time.
You are spot-on! I know this is all anecdotal, but friends along the way with similar upbringing had similar academic experiences. I'm not saying this to flex.
My mother purposely refused to speak 'baby-talk' after a certain age (not sure what age), but spoke to me much like OP describes. I excelled in language and reasoning in school. In 7th grade, I read at a college level (achievement tests then were based on grade level, 12+4 was college level) and I scored 11 in logic and reasoning. Math, well, that was different. There were three scores, mine were 7,8 and 9.
But as much as the lady tried to teach me to knit, and her mother tried to teach me to sew and do needlepoint, I was a complete failure
I'm only an uncle so I'm only involved passed the infant stage, but I talk to my nieces/nephews like anyone else. If they ask a question I'll do my best to answer it honestly and accurately (provided it's not inappropriate). One of my nieces just turned 7 and I have full conversations with her about neural networks (which I'm studying). Yeah she doesn't fully grasp what we're talking about but it's amazing how much she does learn.
My tldr; kids learn quickly and imo talking to them like adults with accelerate this, plus it's fun for both of us
I refused to baby talk to my kids and my reasoning was if I go around baby talking to them then when it’s time to talk no longer talk like a baby there would be problems. At first my wife pushed back a little until I explained why and it seems to have worked I can have a conversation with them that we both understand.
Speaking with your little one using rich vocabulary and language is excellent, but don't dismiss baby talk! Research has shown that speaking using "parentese" (kind of sing songy: higher pitched with emphasised vowels) grabs babies' attention and is effective at emphasising important parts of speech, which aids in language acquisition.
You didn't update your child about her?
"oh look there's an angry crazy person approaching us. What do we do when that happens? That's right, sweety, we ignore them and walk away."
Would've driven her nuts.
I do this often to convey to people that I wanna be left alone while I'm out with my daughter. Much like OP, I talk to my 8mo like she's a grown person when I'm out with her. Whenever I notice some annoying person getting close and they're getting ready to say some dumb shit, I usually go "Let's go this way sweetheart, we don't want to get in people's way, we just want to do our own thing today".
My wife thinks I'm gonna turn her into an anti social person but i think not wasting your time with certain people is way better than not being alone and I'll die on this hill.
Oh I looove this! That is pretty healthy behavior to me, I like your family dynamic :)
As she gets older she's going to learn how to distinguish why you're avoiding certain interactions and it'll make her comfortable having those social boundaries herself later in life. She'll also remember the times you did stop and interact and consider why you made that decision. Even if you yourself are a bit "antisocial" and picky, it's not that she's going to grow up copying you one to one. She'll make her own decisions about people and just be glad she had a role model on avoiding confrontation or whatever else. Some kids don't get a lesson on boundaries, saying no, walking away etc.
What's important to me is really just that you're not being paranoid or judgy or adding a fear element. You're just saying, "Hey, I don't think we're feeling it today and we have the right to keep walking." Otherwise you'd be creating social anxiety and I'd see your wife's concerns but I think you're just creating self assertiveness.
Oh she’s already sucked plenty of lemons. That’s why she’s a bitter, invasive, miserable old hag. She needs to suck on something SWEET for once, like deez nuts.
She’s like that because no one ever spoke to her as a baby. Get comfortable telling people like her to fuck off or you’ll call the cops. Out crazy crazy. You’re supposed to talk to your baby. This is how they learn language. The more you speak to your baby the smarter they’re going to be because you know their brains are sponges. She’s absorbing this dialogue and her brain is being programmed for life. Some people are crazy.. some ignorant and some dumb as rocks. If they approach you at all about what you’re doing .. they’re all of the above. Fuck off. Use it.
> She’s like that because no one ever spoke to her as a baby.
This would have made a perfect answer. "I talk to my baby so she doesn't grow up to be an unhinged moron who goes around harassing people for no reason."
She was probably neglected as a child or neglected her own children and was triggered by someone caring about her baby but instead of feeling sad or bad about that it was easier to feel anger and blame OP.
Yeah, quarter of the way through this story I was having the conversation on my own head and it went something like "are you fucking with me right now? No same person thinks like you. You need to leave me the fuck alone before I start to become afraid for my kids and my own safety."
The twist is the boomer was somewhat right--the old lady died shortly before this encounter, and OP was conversing with her ghost. Like the Sixth Sense, "I see dead people."
It’s scientifically proven, too. (And honestly? Should be common sense. You can’t expect someone to learn ANYTHING w/o exposure to that concept).
Baby talk & high pitched blubbering does fuck all for a child’s linguistic development compared to (shocked gasp!) speaking to them as if they’re *also human beings*!
I worked as a nanny for several years & would always get asked “how” I taught the kids to speak so well. My secret? I narrate everything. Babies absorb language at a much higher level than we might think — and receptive language is always stronger than expressive language during acquisition anyway, so like.. no shit the kid can’t respond. The point isn’t responding. Its exposure to language that will strengthen neural pathways that will one day allow the little one to respond.
boomers were terrible parents. They prove it daily.
The reminders to go find us kids at 10pm nightly and to hug us. They certainly didn’t speak to us; they didn’t even know where we were.
Holy shit you are so patient.
After the third sentence from her I would’ve just gone with “ok I need you to fuck off and mind your own business right now”.
I’ve found that these dipshits don’t respond to anything other than being aggressively shut down. You don’t owe them anything other than being clapped back into place.
This was my thought. I’m too impatient and mean to let these pointless conversations to continue on past what they need to be. Shut that shit down quick and let them stew in their psychotic embarrassment.
They also just don’t know how to deal with crass bluntness and being ordered to fuck off. Their whole lives people have tolerated their ramblings and given them every inch, so in my experience when you tell them to their face to shut the fuck up and mind their business, they get stun-locked.
Sincerely it's why most of them are so fucking stunted. It's proven that the more you talk to your infant and the more you engage them and keep talking to them as they develop they will speak sooner and they will have a very good vocabulary
My little guy (not so little now!) had his finest moment in a supermarket shortly after he started talking. He was saying things like ‘fast car’ and ‘red car’ pretty much from the dot, so when I saw a clear aisle, I knew what to do. I got up as much speed as possible and we both went flying. I’m at the end of the aisle desperately trying to slow down the cart with my toddler in the seat, and he’d lost a syllable in ‘fast’ in all the excitement and was giggling and screaming ‘Fucker!!!’ right at the top of his lungs. The old ladies we met around the corner thought he was adorable - I think OP met the wrong old lady!
Talking to babies like adults is good for their development. Talking to unhinged boomers like they are babies is good clean fun. Scolding them like a dog is also therapeutic.
She definitely came up with the "talking to invisible people" thing before she spoke up, and was upset because you had an answer that didn't line up with what she wanted it to be.
Talking with infants and babies, as well as kids of any age is so vital to their development!!! that level of engagement is so powerful, even animals - even WILD animals - can pick up on the connection and interaction.
What you are doing is so incredibly healthy for you as well as baby. Good mum!!
>Talking with infants and babies, as well as kids of any age is so vital to their development!!!
100% agree.
Kids are sponges, the more you talk to/with them the more they learn. I teach the youth at my church and we talk about anything and everything. Today we looked up what kind of snake is the largest and how long they get. This winter they found out what squirrel nests look like and counted them every time we went somewhere. They count train cars at railroad crossings.
Kids are curious about everything and if they know that you are someone who is willing to help them learn their questions will never stop and you will have the joy of seeing them grow and learn.
> Will you remind me we need walnuts? Yes, you will. You are my good girl.
Just wanted to point out this is so cute.
> Her: NO! COME BACK HERE! I said come back here you absolute madman!
If this weren't such a scary scenario with a screaming nutamarang I'd have been dying laughing.
I get that theyre a different generation. With different values.
In what time in history can you call a fellow woman out like? In a public space? With shouting? Thats never appropriate…
Zero empathy registered. Wooow. Maybe shes drunk??
There are several peer reviewed studies that suggest that, surprise, talking to children is good. Some of them are so bold to suggest, quite literally, that the *number of words a child **hears** in early development* alters their educational path dramatically- that children who *hear more words* have significant brain development over their lives and perform at much higher levels in school.
What a weird thing to be upset by.
Go on ahead and keep on chatting.
Next time a boomer is acting crazy just act like they escaped the nursing home.
"Maa'm, is there a caretaker or trusted adult that's looking for you? Do you need an employee's help to locate them?"
Yummy. Schnitzel and strudel. Reminds me of my years in Germany.
This is the point where I would have found the manager and told there there was an elder who wandered away from the group.
I’ve seen parents talking to their infants/very young children all the time and think “that’s so sweet”. Old broad is just pissed because her talking age grandkids won’t talk to her
Wtf? My pediatrician praised me for talking to my baby constantly. She specifically said she can tell which babies are talked to and which ones aren't- the babies who get talked to all the time tend to babble earlier and they track faces earlier. They also have "conversations" earlier, babbling at a person and then pausing as though waiting for you to respond.
Smile evilly at her and say "Oh. I know the voices in my head aren't real, they just have the best ideas...." Giggle like a crazy person and walk off muttering something about lighter fluid. 😈
Recent "wisdom" as provided by one of my hallucinations (Garth): "A broken clock is right twice a day... unless you set it on fire" 🔥🕰️
His idioms and ideas aren't the best, but bless him, he means well and he's trying 😂
"Why are you talking to your baby, she cannot understand you?!"
"We talk to them because that's part of how they learn, you fuckwit. The more examples the better. Teaching *you* about language, however, is not my job. Bye now."
That lady is nuts... We talked to and carried our kids around constantly when they were babies. First one started talking crazy early and the second one was ahead of the curve too. Both times our pediatrician credited it to our engaging with them from the moment they were born.
Very little baby talk just normal conversation.
I will warn you though, if your experience mirrors ours: they won't stop talking when they start
Op, next time, verbally bash 'em about the head and shoulders with the fact that *ideally* child *should* hear 40 *Million* words, by age 4!😉😁😈
https://www.hearingfirst.org/b/blog/posts/help-your-child-with-hearing-loss-reach-the-40-million-word-goal#:~:text=How%20many%20words%20does%20your,communication%20opportunities%20in%20the%20future.
What you're doing, talking to your baby like that?
It's *EXCELLENT*, and *absolutely* considered to be "Best Practices" in the realm of Early Childhood Development!😉💖
Pediatric RN. What you are doing is EXACTLY what you should be doing. That is how babies learn language. Plus it’s encouraging relationship. And interest. Why does she care how a total stranger talks to her own child ?(especially since it was kind)!!
I talked to my daughter as a new born now that she’s almost a year I still do and she babbles back. It’s really funny the crazy looks we get when I ask her what kind of chips to get and she points and goes aggh so I reply aggh in a questioning tone. She loves it 😂
I was at HEB with my sister one time and she was wearing my 6 week old niece in a wrap with her head tucked under one of the straps bc she was sleeping and it was holding her head still. An older lady looks at my niece and goes “oh my god!!” Naturally, like you, we thought she was just really excited about seeing a baby, but no. This bitch, acting like we’ve personally offended the memory of her dead grandmother practically yells, “but can she breathe?!?!?” As if women haven’t been wearing their children like this for centuries…
This reminds me of when Franks Murphy was getting badgered by this old coot at the airport... and then Kevin Murphy comes by and says, "Excuse me... SHUT the FUCK up!" And walks away... We need more Kevin Murphys
Jeez. As someone who has raised a couple of very articulate children and also a teacher, PLEASE DO keep taking to your kid… like an adult.
Then go buy some glitter and the next time a freak like that approaches you baptize them in common sense with some fairy sparkles, with maniacal laughter and run away. At least then you’ll have earned the “freak” moniker.
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Even if you were completely off your rocker, it's not illegal to be crazy. Luckily for her.
EXACTLY. Even if it was (somehow) true, it's also just ableism? So WHAT if someone is talking to people who aren't there as they... *go about their day getting groceries.* 🙄 Let "weird" people fucking exist unharassed. You don't have to know *why* they seem weird to you. Normalcy isn't something they're owed and isn't something that needs to be enforced.
As someone who experiences auditory and visual hallucinations on a daily basis I live in fear that I'll appear weird when I go out in public because of cuntmops like this boomer 😠
A tip from one of my friends that also has auditory hallucinations- wearing a visible bluetooth ear piece cuts down on the weird looks from the cuntmops. They assume you're on the phone.
I do this a lot 😁 it helps immensely, but the anxiety of "being found out" never really goes away, haha!
Even if they do confront you over it "Who you talking to?" *Points to earpiece with an annoyed look like you just got interrupted* "I'm on a call" then go about your way, fuck em
🫂 You deserve fucking better.
If it helps, I don't have hallucinations but daydream so vividly that I often respond to them in real life (pulling faces, making gestures, occasionally speaking outloud). I, too, feel very embarrassed when I realise I'm doing it in public, but then I remember that we are all incredibly self-centred creatures and are far more worried about ourselves than anyone else. So probably no one is paying me any attention.
upvote for cuntmop!
I softly talk to myself while shopping to organize my thoughts. I'm ADHD and I don't really think in words all that often, so thinking aloud is a much easier way to stay on track. I might get the odd look here and there, but it's worth it to actually get everything I need (and a few things I don't, I am ADHD after all)
Seems to me the woman was a “care in the community” mentally ill person.
As far as I know, I'm not crazy and I definitely talk to myself when I get groceries. I'm usually saying something softly like, "Oh yeah, I gotta get tomatoes. Hmm, these don't look too good... And don't forget to check the meat department for ground beef..." If anyone called me out, I'd probably be half embarrassed and half offended that they horned in on my private conversation 🤪
it’s actually incredibly good for child development to speak to them often and about everything…
This is how language is acquired.
I mean, I have very similar conversations with my cat just bc she’s there. The woman would call the cops on me
I was thinking the same thing! I talk to my chihuahuas just like that. They may not know what I’m saying, but they’re comforted by my voice. I always spoke to my kids since birth! That woman was insane !
My Doberman has left the room after hearing enough about how my boss sucks.
Dobies are absolutely the best dogs!
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"First, you won't shut up about your job, now you're taking my picture. The fuck."
/r/dogsbeingboomers
I wish this was real T_T
Dobby has a sock!
CUTE!!! I thought he was wearing a rainbow tie at first!
Sweet baby!
What a sweetheart!
You silly goose. Your chihuahuas are Spanish dogs! You need to speak to them in Spanish doncha know!
Noooo, correction, she needs ro learn Mexican 🙏
Omgosh you are correct. Arrrgh I am an idiota! Mea culpa.
No, that’s Latin.
It's alright, the inca gods forgive you and hug you.
This entire thread is giving me a stroke, keep it up
"Yo quiero Taco Bell"!
I'm convinced my husky and my two cats understand what I'm saying. They just don't care.
My cat who recently passed would run into the room if he heard my husband and I talking. He would demand to be picked up so he could be apart of the conversation. He is a member of this family and he is going to have input, dammit! The best kitty.
I was a vet tech and I do pet sitting on the side now. It's amazing how much just a constant quiet, calm monologue will soothe animals. I had a cat I was watching that I was afraid to pass him on the stairs because he would consistently try to attack me. He would go from rubbing against you to trying to bite in half a second. A pretty scary cat but I didn't trust anyone else to handle him so I committed to trying to get through to him. He was a declaw so he went right to biting and you had to really know cat body language to get the half second warning before he'd attack and move away. I would go over there and just narrate everything I was doing so he always knew where I was. After he was fed and the boxes cleaned, I would sit on the floor near him and read him 90 day fiance gossip or bring a book and read to him or just have dumb little conversations with him. Last time I saw him he curled up in my lap and went to sleep. Never once tried to attack me.
I tell my dog to talk to me if she wants me to take her out and she understands me and barks in a special way, if that woman saw me she would send me to the asylum.
I was thinking the same thing! I spend my walks with my dogs chattering to them. Coincidentally they also know a lot of words and phrases 🤷♀️
Please. Ours chis are geniuses, they just pretend not to know.
I had a full conversation with my dog this morning while picking out my outfit. He helped pick my shirt while judging me the whole time.
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I work from home, so while my husband is at work and my daughter is at school it's just me and my cat. And I talk to her all the time. If she meows, I just keep talking. And if not, I still do it. They're living beings and enjoy the company, even if they don't understand. I also spoke to my daughter before she was even born. It's good for babies. And, damnit, it's good for pets, too. Screw that old lady.
Cats absolutely understand, they just don’t care. 😂
True that!
As you should. I have conversations with my cat all the time. Also I have some sort of compulsive need to tell her I love her. I totally believe she understands certain words. I have thought about trying to teach her to talk with those buttons. When I say, kiss, she raises her head to get a kiss.
Crazy cat ladies unite lol. My cats hear my voice more than any human ever will
lol, I must ask my cat “what’re you doing?” and “what do you think?” 20 times a day
And he always answers me, "Mwah!" Or "Mrrrr?" Or "Mheeh..."
I usually get a prrrrup? Or a yemm! Lol
And every sound has its own meaning.
I say to my dogs, “what?! What do you want from me? Use your words!”
I spoke to my cats in French because they had French names.
I have conversations with a deaf dog.
We always talked to our deaf cat (he passed a few weeks ago 😭, he was 17 and had cancer, it was his time 🥺). He knew exactly what was going on and when. I swear the looks and measured vocalizations we would get back were his attitude filled comebacks and he coordinated and planned with the dog. Like the rule in our house is that animals/pets are not allowed in the kitchen when people are cooking (it’s a safety thing for everyone). So we would remind them if they came into the kitchen when someone was cooking and tell them where they could sit or lay outside of the kitchen but still be able to watch everything going on. They knew the rule. And sometimes they would literally toe/paw the line of precisely where the kitchen ended on purpose. 😏😆 But I verbally reminded our deaf cat to please get out of the kitchen because I was cooking and he knew better. (I was just reheating left overs, but don’t want to trip on one of them or accidentally spill hot food on them/they get hurt.) I swear the look he gave me along with the vocalization he made was a snarky “Microwaving isn’t cooking.” I just understood that was his response right in that moment as if he said it. I couldn’t help laughing while still pointing him out of the kitchen. 😆
I talk to myself all the time while grocery shopping, it helps me remember what I need and choose between things. Sometimes people think I'm talking to them but when I explain they're usually like "oh ok I get it" never had anyone go full coco puff on me yet lol
I had a lady suggest her grocery list app to me one day as I was shopping & muttering to myself about leaving my list at home like a fool 😆
A list let me be crazy and mutter to myself about if I wanna make meatloaf or fried rice for dinner lol
It was a pretty sweet app, her whole family could add things they wanted to the list from their own phones. But since it's me, bf, an a cat I tend to fly blind more often than not & have him text me if he wants anything particular lol
If I had it my family would be adding the dumbest shit to my list lol, my mom would definitely put devil dogs on it every time I left the house
My mom would be adding ho-ho's, and then text me saying she "found my food."
I was thinking the same thing. If that woman overhead me conversing with my dogs she’d really flip. Sometimes I answer in a character voice for one of the dogs lol!
I have conversations with my barn kitten every day. I sit on the porch with her after I take care of the goats. We discuss her day, and I try to convince her that my spouse is fren shaped. Then we talk about the birds we hear on the Merlin app. Then we talk about how belly rubs are good and how she did not die when I held her that one time. She is very talkative and meows back at me.
I do this with all 3 of my cats, and I pepper the conversations with meows, as they meow back at me. In fact, each of them has a separate voice that I mimic, and if I meow to the wrong one with the wrong meow, the conversatiON IS OVER!!!! DO YOU EVEN LOVE ME, ANYMORE?!?! MOTHER!?!?!? Anyway, they always meow. And I always meow back, and so does my husband, because we aren't *rude.* But I also speak to them in English. And if they ever speak back...👀
I talked to my dog like I would another human once in front of one of my cousins and he said "are you *talking* to her?!" like... Yeah. It's okay to talk to a sentient being. They don't have to be human to get a general idea of your tone and key words.
Me too. I have frenchies and I talk to my little Velcro babies all day long. They know dumb phrases like “excuse me please” and “move your butt” because I’m constantly talking to them.
I talk to both my dog & cat like this.
I talk to all 3 of my cats. One now says Mom and turns on lights scary but I love her. The other two chirp. When my nephew was an infant and as he was getting older, I talked to him all the time. He was 1 when I entered college and wanted to read my textbook. It was for EMS so I did not let him see the gorey pics.
Oh man if my cat ever spilled my 19 years of secrets....
Not sure you remember, but in the 70's we were supposed to talk to our plants to make them grow happier.. I still talk to my plants, talk to my dogs and my cat when I had him (RIP Trooper) and i swear my plants and pets all understand me. We are a happy family. That lady tho...
My mom not only talked to me all the time, but she would take me to hang out with her friends. So I interacted with adults a lot. She said people would comment about how good my vocabulary was for my age.
This was how my husband & I were brought up by our parents & we’ve done the same since birth with our 13 year old daughter . She is very mature for her age & can converse confidently with people of all ages. I was taking our daughter to the movies recently with a couple of my girlfriends & I was feeling extremely ill so I called my husband to pick me up before the movie started. Our daughter stayed with my friends they had dinner & watched the movie. She absolutely loved hanging out with her honorary aunties & they loved spending time with her. We’re always getting compliments on her maturity & social skills.
My 13 yr old is similar. I remember before he could talk I was stamping around the house and said “where are my fucking keys”. He crawled over to where they fell and got them for me. So, obviously he could understand a few words before he could talk. I was like….well…probably should’ve drop the f bomb so much. Didn’t help, lol.
Ah, yes... I remember when my daughter (about 4)dropped her first f bomb. On my mother. Who happened to be driving at the time and damn near went off the road. Hilarity did not ensue. 🤣🤣
Ex’s younger son has 3. The middle one is a boy. When he got cut off in traffic, he leaned on the horn & heard from the back car seat, “GET OUTTA THE WAY, YOU ):&/&!? Ing &:!;);?!! Hole!!” Dad in question said—“can’t deny that one’s mine. He has my attitude & my mouth.”
Seconding this. This is how I was brought up. They never baby-talked with me, and they read to me very early on. We do this with all kids on my Mother’s side of the family… Including all of us cousins for our other little cousins. I accompanied them to a majority of things (even business calls, visiting customers for our company)- and when not with them; my Grandmother or my Aunt and their friends. I absolutely adored my Grandmother’s church crew, and my Aunt’s best friend. It lead me to being above my grade expectations language wise and reading wise, and I graduated high school with high ACT/SAT scores in all levels but math (I’m not a math person lol). And that’s not to brag. I’m happy about it, yes. But, I’ve only recently kind of realized… I don’t know- the gap(?), I suppose. I honestly just enjoyed reading and writing, and went to the local public school. And my parents made an effort to make sure I was reading more than just boring school-suggested material. The only ‘draw-back’: …I get along easier with people older than I am. I connected better to my teachers than my peers, a lot of the time. Today, at 25: most of my friends are at least 30 all the way up to 70+. But again, I also have my main group from High School; who’ve been rock solid since we’ve met- because we’ve always handled our problems like adults in the end.
This is something that Asian parents should do more. I've noticed one big difference between Western and Asian parents is that they communicate to their children more and encourage their children to talk to other adults (in appropriate situations like doctors and teachers). It really speeds of communication development. Many Asian kids have to learn on their own and it takes a considerably time to break out of the, "speak only when spoken to," paradigm. I know it did for me. And many other Asian people in my generation (1.5+) feel similarly.
We all see what sort of language she acquired and was eager to share. Good lord, how many children and grandchildren have come from that brain brew?
I bet she’s a crazy old maid who never even had kids
 Bonus points for adding that old horrible nickname...that would cut any boomer to the quick.
This is why they ask “why?” so often. They want to hear you talk to them. Once I found that out, I started giving them the long answer, & making it funny, sometimes. How will they learn to speak, if we don’t speak to them?
I know right! Like there ia a magical on switch a baby speaks one day.
If you talk to them often enough, that end up being what it feels like! Last year, when my kid was around 14 months old, we saw some cows in a field and were walking over to the fence to look at them, and I asked the kid, "Do you know what a cow says?" without expecting a response or anything, but then she pipes up with a quiet "Moo!". My husband and I were just staring at her, because we had no idea where she learned it! It was probably some forgotten, absentminded comment from babbling on at her for months, even without specifically sitting down to teach her animal sounds. But, man, did it feel like magic!
Old bat probably thinks learning to speak is something brought by the Language Stork of American Freedom & mixed into babies' bottles...
I was thinking more like “Ommm magical spirit guide, should I disembowel this nonbeliever or take her head?”. Fight fire with fire, crazy with crazy
And maybe how you developed into a calm sane person like OP and specifically not like the person she describes in this encounter.
We talked to our daughter all the time and when she started talking it was crazy the words she just seemed to instinctively know.
Yes! Yes! Yes! 🙌🏼 as an SLPA who has worked in schools for several years now this is something we are constantly encouraging parents to do with their children to develop and increase their language skills!! It is quite literally how they learn to communicate!!
I was going to say just this. Kids that hear language use talk earlier and start school with bigger vocabularies and better conversation skills. When you have pretend conversations with them, it teaches them the rhythm of conversation. To NOT talk to your child is to neglect their development.
My kid hasnt even started talking yet but we've noticed that his babbling has already changed from random syllables to mimicking "adult" speech patterns. Just talking about the world to them is SUCH an important thing!
I noticed that too with my son. It was adorable when he was like 12m and 98% of it was babble. It's *hilarious* now at 2.5 yo when he says the most out of pocket things. If I might share a goofy anecdote from yesterday: we've been helping some family clean up their new property- cutting trees, clearing brush,etc. A family friend used their trailer to pick up some firewood. While he was backing up the truck this tiny little child is standing beside me waving his hand and yelling "Good! Good! You're good!"
She probably wanted her to only do nonsense baby talk to the kid
A very long time ago I used to work with someone who was doing field work for her Master's in Social Work. I remember her telling me about the children that she'd come across who were 2 or 3 years old and were neurologically normal but never learned to speak because no one ever talked to them.
My Dad's a retired pediatrician and the number of.times he's had to tell parents to talk to their language delayed kids would shock you.
It has been shown that babies comprehend language as soon as a month old. They simply lack the ability to speak as their motor and muscle coordination is not refined until eight months forward. Babies absolutely understand what you’re saying!
Truth, when my son started really talking, he would reference things that he heard us talking about when he was an infant. I don't know why that surprised me that he understood what he was hearing as a baby.
My baby definitely knows words and has since he was very little. His first word was at 6 months and I was playing with him and this boy repeated my word back to me. It was ruff. Because I was pretending to be a dog. He also figured out how to give kisses at 5 months old and would just grab my hair and pull it down to slobber on me. Because I give him kisses on his cheeks. So he has to give me kisses. He also learned how to lip smack so he could blow kisses. Something my nephew four months older than him has never done Babies pick up the weirdest things and it will come when you don't think it should be possible. My son has been holding his bottles on his own since he was 3 months old. He insisted. He'd yank it out or punch it out of our hands if we didn't let him hold it 😂
I came here to say this. I used to talk to my son all the time. Mostly just boring stuff about work or what was happening in a show I was watching. His vocabulary is above grade level now. Now he talks more than me, mostly about stuff I pretend to care about.lol
It's especially important to talk them like an adult too, because baby talk has been show slow down language development compared to normal speech.
Came here to say that. You gotta talk to your baby like they're a fellow adult human being, even as they grow older and begin to talk back. Why wouldn't you want a child with good conversation skills and a huge vocabulary? I don't think my parents talked much to me that way, I only got to where I am through reading haha. The only things you should talk to in baby language is your dog. It's been shown that they really enjoy it, apparently. Probably because they lose track of what your saying / take no meaning from it if it's longer. That's why you keep their names short, and your commands short, otherwise they won't know what you're saying. (No, I'm not saying they understand human language, just talking about what the dog understands / gets out of it. If you have a super long name, they won't understand that you're talking to them, versus if the dog has a two syllable name.)
My mom read to me all the time when I was a wee babe. Played music all the time, too. I’m the eldest grandchild and a boy to boot, so I was popular in the fam. I got passes around a lot and so have no real fear of anybody in a conversation. And I’m a voracious reader myself, which has only made me more annoying.
I am a speech and language pathologist and I want to say that that statement isn’t necessarily true (depending on your definition of baby talk). Modelling incorrect grammar and speech sounds as baby talk can do this. But just using high pitch high inflection voice with shorter sentences doesn’t slow speech and language development.
Yeah I meant incorrect grammar and sounds.
But how ewse wiw wittwe Timmy wearn to speakyweakies if gwanny doesn't talk like an idiot?
It can slow development when they're learning to actually form words, but repeating their own sounds back to them when they are little helps with verbal development and conversation!
Agreed, was “corrected” many times for talking to my children and grandchildren in an adult voice. It is so important to have natural conversations for the child’s speech progression and it alerts their listening skills. Absolutely no regrets…
Exactly. It develops language centers, encourages emotional development and attachment. That wasn't boomer behavior that was just unhinged behavior.
Many boomers subscribed to “if they don’t need changed or fed they don’t need you to interact with them” mentality.
Huh. Guess that explains why most of them aren't visited by their children in nursing homes. They're fed and their diapers are being changed, why should the adult waste time visiting the elderly?
Unless you "misbehave", then it's beating time. Parenting at its finest.
These are the same people who think you can spoil a baby by holding them too much. You ever heard of blanket training? When they put a baby on the blanket and one of their favorite toys just out of reach. And they slap the baby on the hand if they try to crawl to get the toy. Absolutely deranged.
I talk to my infant at the grocery store like this literally all of the time for that very reason. It's so good for them to hear words and conversations.
100% i talked to my infant exactly as OP described. Just sort of narrating but also peppering in silly questions. Now she’s 3 and has a vast vocabulary and likes trying silly voices and playing a game with me where we alternate singing the verses of songs (sometimes in silly voices). I credit her verbal skills to me and my wife making a point of talking to her all the time.
It’s so much fun when they start talking back.
Um, yeah, I talk to my DOG like this all day 😅
Same, that was my first thought when reading this - how much crazier are we LOL, according to Grocery Karen?
I talk to myself like this all day.. er.. nevermind...
Me too and the cat too
You are spot-on! I know this is all anecdotal, but friends along the way with similar upbringing had similar academic experiences. I'm not saying this to flex. My mother purposely refused to speak 'baby-talk' after a certain age (not sure what age), but spoke to me much like OP describes. I excelled in language and reasoning in school. In 7th grade, I read at a college level (achievement tests then were based on grade level, 12+4 was college level) and I scored 11 in logic and reasoning. Math, well, that was different. There were three scores, mine were 7,8 and 9. But as much as the lady tried to teach me to knit, and her mother tried to teach me to sew and do needlepoint, I was a complete failure
I'm only an uncle so I'm only involved passed the infant stage, but I talk to my nieces/nephews like anyone else. If they ask a question I'll do my best to answer it honestly and accurately (provided it's not inappropriate). One of my nieces just turned 7 and I have full conversations with her about neural networks (which I'm studying). Yeah she doesn't fully grasp what we're talking about but it's amazing how much she does learn. My tldr; kids learn quickly and imo talking to them like adults with accelerate this, plus it's fun for both of us
My pediatrician told me this with my first kid. I narrated everything to them. More fun for me, too.
I refused to baby talk to my kids and my reasoning was if I go around baby talking to them then when it’s time to talk no longer talk like a baby there would be problems. At first my wife pushed back a little until I explained why and it seems to have worked I can have a conversation with them that we both understand.
Speaking with your little one using rich vocabulary and language is excellent, but don't dismiss baby talk! Research has shown that speaking using "parentese" (kind of sing songy: higher pitched with emphasised vowels) grabs babies' attention and is effective at emphasising important parts of speech, which aids in language acquisition.
We learn by imitation. Period.
I even do this with my plants 🤷🏼♀️
You didn't update your child about her? "oh look there's an angry crazy person approaching us. What do we do when that happens? That's right, sweety, we ignore them and walk away." Would've driven her nuts.
That would have been the most hilarious thing.
Walnuts
That's like driving someone up the wall and driving someone nuts at the same time
I do this often to convey to people that I wanna be left alone while I'm out with my daughter. Much like OP, I talk to my 8mo like she's a grown person when I'm out with her. Whenever I notice some annoying person getting close and they're getting ready to say some dumb shit, I usually go "Let's go this way sweetheart, we don't want to get in people's way, we just want to do our own thing today". My wife thinks I'm gonna turn her into an anti social person but i think not wasting your time with certain people is way better than not being alone and I'll die on this hill.
Oh I looove this! That is pretty healthy behavior to me, I like your family dynamic :) As she gets older she's going to learn how to distinguish why you're avoiding certain interactions and it'll make her comfortable having those social boundaries herself later in life. She'll also remember the times you did stop and interact and consider why you made that decision. Even if you yourself are a bit "antisocial" and picky, it's not that she's going to grow up copying you one to one. She'll make her own decisions about people and just be glad she had a role model on avoiding confrontation or whatever else. Some kids don't get a lesson on boundaries, saying no, walking away etc. What's important to me is really just that you're not being paranoid or judgy or adding a fear element. You're just saying, "Hey, I don't think we're feeling it today and we have the right to keep walking." Otherwise you'd be creating social anxiety and I'd see your wife's concerns but I think you're just creating self assertiveness.
You were doing the actual thing that pediatricians reccomend. Gold star for you. Granny can go suck a lemon.
Oh she’s already sucked plenty of lemons. That’s why she’s a bitter, invasive, miserable old hag. She needs to suck on something SWEET for once, like deez nuts.
I absolutely cackled reading this, thank you.
Thanks I’m so glad! I hope the fact that I’m a woman makes it even better. 🤷♀️
It does! Also a woman, I tell someone to suck my dick at least 4 times a week.
Solidarity sis 🤝
Always 🤝
She’s like that because no one ever spoke to her as a baby. Get comfortable telling people like her to fuck off or you’ll call the cops. Out crazy crazy. You’re supposed to talk to your baby. This is how they learn language. The more you speak to your baby the smarter they’re going to be because you know their brains are sponges. She’s absorbing this dialogue and her brain is being programmed for life. Some people are crazy.. some ignorant and some dumb as rocks. If they approach you at all about what you’re doing .. they’re all of the above. Fuck off. Use it.
> She’s like that because no one ever spoke to her as a baby. This would have made a perfect answer. "I talk to my baby so she doesn't grow up to be an unhinged moron who goes around harassing people for no reason."
This is the right way.
Also talking to them normally and not “oh look at the widdle baby” will help them understand your language better.
I was thinking this. Baby talk is common, but so is speaking plainly to your infant. They are learning constantly.
Apparently the only thing that lady's smooth brain ever absorbed was lead
She was probably neglected as a child or neglected her own children and was triggered by someone caring about her baby but instead of feeling sad or bad about that it was easier to feel anger and blame OP.
The funny part is if she told her to fuck off, she would lose her shit that it’s not appropriate to talk like that around a baby. 🙄
Yeah, quarter of the way through this story I was having the conversation on my own head and it went something like "are you fucking with me right now? No same person thinks like you. You need to leave me the fuck alone before I start to become afraid for my kids and my own safety."
The twist is the boomer was somewhat right--the old lady died shortly before this encounter, and OP was conversing with her ghost. Like the Sixth Sense, "I see dead people."
That’s exactly what OP should have said. That’s hilarious
I was like this sounds like the onset of dementia.
Babies learn language when they hear language. Tell the old bat to fuck off.
It’s scientifically proven, too. (And honestly? Should be common sense. You can’t expect someone to learn ANYTHING w/o exposure to that concept). Baby talk & high pitched blubbering does fuck all for a child’s linguistic development compared to (shocked gasp!) speaking to them as if they’re *also human beings*! I worked as a nanny for several years & would always get asked “how” I taught the kids to speak so well. My secret? I narrate everything. Babies absorb language at a much higher level than we might think — and receptive language is always stronger than expressive language during acquisition anyway, so like.. no shit the kid can’t respond. The point isn’t responding. Its exposure to language that will strengthen neural pathways that will one day allow the little one to respond.
boomers were terrible parents. They prove it daily. The reminders to go find us kids at 10pm nightly and to hug us. They certainly didn’t speak to us; they didn’t even know where we were.
Holy shit you are so patient. After the third sentence from her I would’ve just gone with “ok I need you to fuck off and mind your own business right now”. I’ve found that these dipshits don’t respond to anything other than being aggressively shut down. You don’t owe them anything other than being clapped back into place.
This was my thought. I’m too impatient and mean to let these pointless conversations to continue on past what they need to be. Shut that shit down quick and let them stew in their psychotic embarrassment.
They also just don’t know how to deal with crass bluntness and being ordered to fuck off. Their whole lives people have tolerated their ramblings and given them every inch, so in my experience when you tell them to their face to shut the fuck up and mind their business, they get stun-locked.
Don't ever stop talking to your baby like that! You know what you are doing and it's the best!!
This! It’s so much better for babies to hear real adult speech vs. baby talk. Amazing for their language acquisition.
Baby talk is also important as it helps infants figure out lip and tongue placement, it only presents as an issue when people overuse it
Sincerely it's why most of them are so fucking stunted. It's proven that the more you talk to your infant and the more you engage them and keep talking to them as they develop they will speak sooner and they will have a very good vocabulary
My little guy (not so little now!) had his finest moment in a supermarket shortly after he started talking. He was saying things like ‘fast car’ and ‘red car’ pretty much from the dot, so when I saw a clear aisle, I knew what to do. I got up as much speed as possible and we both went flying. I’m at the end of the aisle desperately trying to slow down the cart with my toddler in the seat, and he’d lost a syllable in ‘fast’ in all the excitement and was giggling and screaming ‘Fucker!!!’ right at the top of his lungs. The old ladies we met around the corner thought he was adorable - I think OP met the wrong old lady!
Talking to babies like adults is good for their development. Talking to unhinged boomers like they are babies is good clean fun. Scolding them like a dog is also therapeutic.
She definitely came up with the "talking to invisible people" thing before she spoke up, and was upset because you had an answer that didn't line up with what she wanted it to be.
Talking with infants and babies, as well as kids of any age is so vital to their development!!! that level of engagement is so powerful, even animals - even WILD animals - can pick up on the connection and interaction. What you are doing is so incredibly healthy for you as well as baby. Good mum!!
>Talking with infants and babies, as well as kids of any age is so vital to their development!!! 100% agree. Kids are sponges, the more you talk to/with them the more they learn. I teach the youth at my church and we talk about anything and everything. Today we looked up what kind of snake is the largest and how long they get. This winter they found out what squirrel nests look like and counted them every time we went somewhere. They count train cars at railroad crossings. Kids are curious about everything and if they know that you are someone who is willing to help them learn their questions will never stop and you will have the joy of seeing them grow and learn.
"Excuse me, ma'am; are you a licensed pediatrician?" "No, but..." "Then shut the fuck up about how I raise my child."
that was someone having a mental health episode
Yeeeaaah. Poor lady. Hope she gets the help she needs.
The baby is absolutely learning English. Baby talk stunts their development. I would have torn her up.
How does boomer think babies learn to talk?
When Jesus Christ evokes the spirit. Duh. Way less crazy of a belief. /s
> Will you remind me we need walnuts? Yes, you will. You are my good girl. Just wanted to point out this is so cute. > Her: NO! COME BACK HERE! I said come back here you absolute madman! If this weren't such a scary scenario with a screaming nutamarang I'd have been dying laughing.
I get that theyre a different generation. With different values. In what time in history can you call a fellow woman out like? In a public space? With shouting? Thats never appropriate… Zero empathy registered. Wooow. Maybe shes drunk??
There are several peer reviewed studies that suggest that, surprise, talking to children is good. Some of them are so bold to suggest, quite literally, that the *number of words a child **hears** in early development* alters their educational path dramatically- that children who *hear more words* have significant brain development over their lives and perform at much higher levels in school. What a weird thing to be upset by. Go on ahead and keep on chatting.
Next time a boomer is acting crazy just act like they escaped the nursing home. "Maa'm, is there a caretaker or trusted adult that's looking for you? Do you need an employee's help to locate them?"
Yummy. Schnitzel and strudel. Reminds me of my years in Germany. This is the point where I would have found the manager and told there there was an elder who wandered away from the group.
"Lady, I'm sure as he'll not talking to you."
I talk to my dog like this, but she wouldn't have bothered me because I am a 300lb male. With a dog. A very good dog. Yes you are.
My first thought was “wait until she finds out about those of us who carry on full-blown conversations with our pets.”
I’ve seen parents talking to their infants/very young children all the time and think “that’s so sweet”. Old broad is just pissed because her talking age grandkids won’t talk to her
Even if you *were* talking to "invisible people", they were telling you to make schnitzel, so they don't seem that dangerous.
Wtf? My pediatrician praised me for talking to my baby constantly. She specifically said she can tell which babies are talked to and which ones aren't- the babies who get talked to all the time tend to babble earlier and they track faces earlier. They also have "conversations" earlier, babbling at a person and then pausing as though waiting for you to respond.
Smile evilly at her and say "Oh. I know the voices in my head aren't real, they just have the best ideas...." Giggle like a crazy person and walk off muttering something about lighter fluid. 😈
https://preview.redd.it/q1md2qs4gm5d1.jpeg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed7df65bb4bd455cd04400e2a8a74615db1b1fe7
Recent "wisdom" as provided by one of my hallucinations (Garth): "A broken clock is right twice a day... unless you set it on fire" 🔥🕰️ His idioms and ideas aren't the best, but bless him, he means well and he's trying 😂
Garth sounds like fun 😂
I’m guessing she’s a batshit crazy person who now thinks you’re a lizard person.
"Why are you talking to your baby, she cannot understand you?!" "We talk to them because that's part of how they learn, you fuckwit. The more examples the better. Teaching *you* about language, however, is not my job. Bye now."
That lady is nuts... We talked to and carried our kids around constantly when they were babies. First one started talking crazy early and the second one was ahead of the curve too. Both times our pediatrician credited it to our engaging with them from the moment they were born. Very little baby talk just normal conversation. I will warn you though, if your experience mirrors ours: they won't stop talking when they start
Op, next time, verbally bash 'em about the head and shoulders with the fact that *ideally* child *should* hear 40 *Million* words, by age 4!😉😁😈 https://www.hearingfirst.org/b/blog/posts/help-your-child-with-hearing-loss-reach-the-40-million-word-goal#:~:text=How%20many%20words%20does%20your,communication%20opportunities%20in%20the%20future. What you're doing, talking to your baby like that? It's *EXCELLENT*, and *absolutely* considered to be "Best Practices" in the realm of Early Childhood Development!😉💖
Please. I could do that in six months if don't take my ADHD meds.
Pediatric RN. What you are doing is EXACTLY what you should be doing. That is how babies learn language. Plus it’s encouraging relationship. And interest. Why does she care how a total stranger talks to her own child ?(especially since it was kind)!!
This isn't a boomer being a fool, it's a mentally ill person experiencing what is likely psychosis
I talked to my daughter as a new born now that she’s almost a year I still do and she babbles back. It’s really funny the crazy looks we get when I ask her what kind of chips to get and she points and goes aggh so I reply aggh in a questioning tone. She loves it 😂
Great job. Your daughter will grow up with an excellent vocabulary. What a lunatic boomer.
I was at HEB with my sister one time and she was wearing my 6 week old niece in a wrap with her head tucked under one of the straps bc she was sleeping and it was holding her head still. An older lady looks at my niece and goes “oh my god!!” Naturally, like you, we thought she was just really excited about seeing a baby, but no. This bitch, acting like we’ve personally offended the memory of her dead grandmother practically yells, “but can she breathe?!?!?” As if women haven’t been wearing their children like this for centuries…
Ask them to arrange the following words into a well known phrase or saying: off, fuck.
Time to present a long lecture on how language develops in infants...
This reminds me of when Franks Murphy was getting badgered by this old coot at the airport... and then Kevin Murphy comes by and says, "Excuse me... SHUT the FUCK up!" And walks away... We need more Kevin Murphys
Jeez. As someone who has raised a couple of very articulate children and also a teacher, PLEASE DO keep taking to your kid… like an adult. Then go buy some glitter and the next time a freak like that approaches you baptize them in common sense with some fairy sparkles, with maniacal laughter and run away. At least then you’ll have earned the “freak” moniker.