"Tine Andersen" wrote in message
k...
Do you also say tju-tju for train, moo-moo for cow and honk-honk for car?

And how long do you continue with the baby words?

I forbid my MIL to tell my daughter that a dog was a bow-wow and a cat a
kitty. I like the right words - the ones that sound neutral in your
specific
surroundings. (Luckily I have the courage to forbid her certain things and
be sure she respects (or rather: does as I say) them)

I see nothing wrong with baby talk. Most of it originates from the children
themselves and the parents merely emulate them. DH had lots of baby talk
words as a child and he doesn't talk like that now. He's highly educated
and speaks as if he is, so I don't think there is any lifelong untoward
effects. DS called the cat Meow for awhile because DH would say, "Kitty
Cat, meow," so the cat's name was Meow. That lasted until he was finally
able to say "Kitty," but we never corrected him. In fact, we used to
emulate him. We didn't always call it Meow, of course, but we didn't say
Kitty to correct DS. We only said it in conversation with him and he knew
the cat was named Kitty (Her name is K.C. for Kitty Cat, DH's creative name
for her). I don't really know of any kindergarteners who talk baby talk
(except of one my MIL knew who was homeschooled). They tend to outgrow it
on their very own, just from learning the language and being around other
children. Peer pressure can get them to speak properly, if nothing else.