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She finds it disrespectful.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Feb 01, 2022
A mother is wondering if she's in the wrong and asked the subreddit 'AITA' (Am I The A**Hole) for advice after getting mad at her sister for not using baby talk when speaking to her daughter.
The woman, 31, explained that her sister, 28, looks after her daughter about once a month.
"She's kind of me and my husband's backup backup babysitter since she's not really a kid person," the woman wrote in Reddit post.
The woman went on, writing, she knows that her sister loves and cares for her niece but one thing that has always bothered the woman is the fact that her sister speaks to her daughter like an adult.
The sister doesn't baby talk her niece at all, which the mother finds disrespectful.
"I brought it up with her this weekend that it bothers me but she brushed me off saying she's treating her like a person," she revealed.
The woman also added that her sister speaks to her cats in a baby voice all of the time, but when she mentioned this her sister explained that her cats are never learning to speak so it doesn't matter with them.
"I feel like she's dismissing my feelings as a mother and is prioritizes her cats over her niece."
The sister thinks the woman is being crazy, and if it bothers her that much than the woman should simply find another babysitter for her daughter.
The woman's husband thinks that she should drop the subject because now they don't have an emergency babysitter for when they need someone to watch their child.
The woman ended her post by asking Reddit users if she is the a**hole for getting mad at her sister.
Most people under the post agreed that the mother was in the wrong for making such a big commotion out of the entire ordeal.
"You are supposed to talk to them like people, or adults as you put it. It's how their language skills develop, now you can't go using SAT level words, but still they should be words," one user commented.
Some users were confused on the age of the child, with one person commenting, "[You're the a**hole] sure, but also unless I missed it we don't know if the kid is 6mos or 10yrs old. There might be a case to be made if we're talking about an adult tone with a baby, but without more info, this sounds absolutely insane."
Another person commented, "If the child is under 1, baby talk is better. It exaggerates parts of speech, this makes them easier to notice/pick up."
"However, one person NOT doing it isn't bad either, especially if it someone the daughter sees once a week or less."
According to Today's Parent, some forms of baby talk (like using a sing-song voice) can actually boost your baby's language development.
However, parents should avoid using nonsense or cutesy words with infants as that doesn't help them build a vocabularly.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.