# Advice on dealing with stubborn kids **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-on-dealing-with-stubborn-kids/585393 "2011-06-14T03:24:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-on-dealing-with-stubborn-kids/585393/21 "2011-06-14T23:07:50Z")
Thanks for the suggestions! The kid already speaks some English - her mom sends her to an English preschool (where the classes are mostly in English) but she wants to send her to a “better” preschool where the classes are exclusively in English. This one has an English entrance exam. The kid passed the first part of the exam but apparently she was judged to be lacking in social skills (?). Her mom thinks that some one-on-one English time will help her be more confident. I know, Korean parents are crazy. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-on-dealing-with-stubborn-kids/585393/22 "2011-06-14T23:31:14Z")
Oh, they’re not the only ones. I’m starting with some private lessons for two absolutely adorable little girls this summer who are 4 and 3 1/2. Usually, when I do private hours with kids this little it’s for a specific and important reason, like the little girl whose family was moving to New York two months later, or to just give the kids some early exposure to English as a foundation for later. These particular two mothers think that English is such a critical language to know and that this stage of life is optimal for the teaching of it (which is true) and so their aim is to have the girls fluent in English after two years of my coming by for 45 minutes a week. I’m going to have to have _such_ a discussion about realistic expectations with them before we get started. How much am I looking forward to it? Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much, that’s how much. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-on-dealing-with-stubborn-kids/585393/23 "2011-06-15T00:41:54Z")
Dude, good luck with that. There is just no reasoning with some moms. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-on-dealing-with-stubborn-kids/585393/24 "2011-06-15T00:55:45Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > When I had my first baby, I thought, “what on earth am I going to DO with him all day?” I quickly found out…everything I already do. Only with a baby, you talk to them while you do it. “Time to do laundry, now! See, I’m measuring the detergent. Detergent helps make our clothes clean and smell nice! It’s got a hydrophobic end to grab the dirt and a hydrophillic end to ride out on the water, isn’t that neat?!” I mean, I must have sounded like a total lunatic, but that’s honestly how babies and kids learn language. Did he as a 9 month old have one flippin’ clue what “hydrophillic” meant? Absolutely not. But he learned the rhythm and pattern of the language while I babbled at him, and retained those vocabulary words that were important to his world. > ! I recently listened to a story on NPR about talking to babies. They did painstaking studies where they counted the number or words a mother spoke to her baby. What they found was the more the mother talked to the baby, the better. I can’t remember the specifics of what the outcomes were (higher IQ? better academic achievement?) but the point was, better-educated mothers naturally just chattered to their babies more. The lesson I though was no matter what your educational level, you can babble to a baby. And that is what appears to matter. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-on-dealing-with-stubborn-kids/585393/25 "2011-06-15T12:08:24Z")
True **Ellen Cherry** It amused me to have my baby saying long words, but on reflection it’s probably easier for a baby to say “alligator” or “caterpillar” than “dog” or “cat” and certainly more fun. I mean, they hear this string of sounds all the time, then you asking them to just make ONE noise. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-on-dealing-with-stubborn-kids/585393.md?page=1)