I guess part of me should be proud. Should be - but isn't. I'd actually prefer it if "No" wasn't really part of his vocabulary at all. Or, even better, was replaced by "Of course, Mummy." or "Yes, mummy." or "I'd love to, mummy." or even "I'll do it straight away, mummy."
Blame can be probably laid at the (admittedly still small) feet of his Posse. You see, pretty much all of the Caspi-Man's close friends seem to be bi-lingual. (And they are all - without exception -talented in saying "No!" to their parents.) Amongst the languages he hears frequently are: Polish, French, Persian, Portuguese, Chinese, and of course German and English. And so it transpires that he can now say "NO!" in every bloody one of them.
Over the past week or so, though, the Caspi-Man's use of the word "No!" (in all its incarnations) has taken a new and disturbingly dictatorial turn. He has appointed himself as Olli's primary disciplinarian.
We've only - so far - two rules for Olli: 1) He is not allowed on the table, and 2) he is not allowed to scratch the furniture. (We've made him special wall-mounted "scratching pictures" for this purpose.)
Unfortunately, both hopping on the table and scratching the couch, seem to be activities that Olli enjoys - so he is finding himself subjected to the Caspi-Man's self-appointed authority with alarming frequency.
While being a wee bit disturbed by my son's aptitude for chastisement (transference issues perhaps?) - I have also been more than a tad amused to witness - that the Caspi-Man is gravitating towards the exclusive use of the German "NEIN!" for his Olli-disciplining-purposes.
It appears it is evident, even to one so young, that no other language sounds quite as authoritative. (Point of fact:- even my non-German speaking family all say "Nein!" when the Caspi-Man is doing something he shouldn't be. And, an Antipodean friend, who visited us for 3 weeks way back when the Caspi-Man was still a baby, returned to Australia fluent in just 2 German phrases: "Ich liebe es" [gleaned from the MacDonald's commercials on TV and used to tell the locals how he was enjoying just about everything - from the beer to the ice-hockey] and "Nein! Nicht in dem Mund, Caspi-Man!")
So, while "No!" is unfortunately becoming ever further entrenched in his vocabulary - I am taking some comfort in the evidential development that the Caspi-Man is no "Dobber" (he's not once run to me or the Ger-Man to "tell on" Olli).
No, he is quite happy to take to matters into his own hands, (which are planted firmly on his tiny hips), as he bellows at the top of lungs: "NEIN! Olli- NEIN!"
1 comment:
I actually recall one very English speaking Mum saying that she chastised her son in German because NEIN sounds so authoritarian - hmmm, now who could that have been?
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