Mom Gets Angry At Her Sister For Not Using Baby Talk When Babysitting Her 3-Year-Old Niece

One babysitting disagreement turned into a family argument after a mother decided her sister should use baby talk with a 3-year-old niece.

The sister often helps out in a pinch, but she refuses to talk to the child in a cutesy voice, saying she wants to treat her like a person. That annoyed the mother even more when she noticed the same sister happily using baby talk with her cats.

Now the whole thing has spilled online, and the reaction has been anything but gentle. Was this just a harmless preference, or a strange hill to die on?

Mom went online to see if she was being unreasonable for being irritated with her sister for not using baby talk with her daughter.

According to KidsHealth.org:

"By age 3, a toddler's vocabulary usually consists of 200 or more words, and many kids can string together three- or four-word sentences. Kids at this stage of language development can understand more and speak more clearly. By now, you should be able to understand about 75% of what your toddler says."Nenad Stojkovic (not the actual photo)

The OP's sister occasionally babysits her 3-year-old niece and is the one she turns to in an emergency.

Reddit

She is backup for a backup babysitter. OP is really bothered by the fact that her sister won't use baby talk with her 3 Y.O. niece.

Reddit

The babysitting arrangement was already a little awkward.

She says that's because she is trying to treat her as a person.

Reddit

OP mentioned to her sister that she has no problem using baby talk with her cats, thus unconsciously sending a message that she likes them more than she likes her niece.

Reddit

That comparison did not land well.

OP gives this issue way too much attention (although it can hardly be called an issue), and her sister doesn’t want to comply with her wishes.

Reddit

OP’s husband told her she is overreacting.

Reddit

Now she asks the Internet if she is wrong.

Reddit

She took the argument online, and the replies came fast.

This also echoes the pet conflict, where one person wondered if it was wrong to question their sister’s decision to adopt a pet without consulting them first.

And Redditors were not kind to OP.

Reddit

Kids learn to speak faster if they are spoken to like a person.

Reddit

One commenter clearly thought the whole complaint was backwards.

Some puns were also featured, but, to be honest, OP was asking for it...

Reddit

Listen to the experts...

Reddit

Who isn't jealous of cats?

Reddit

"Dumb one." Well said.

Reddit

Niece and cats are not the same.

Reddit

Some people don't like baby talk, even with animals.

Reddit

Babies require a different and softer tone, not a different language.

Reddit

Non-words are not desirable.

Reddit

"Really silly" is an understatement...

Reddit

The bottom line:

Reddit

OP here obviously has nothing better to do but invent problems. The very fact that she demands that people use baby talk with her 3-year-old is worrying.

Some kids speak fluently at this age, and using baby talk could slow down her speech development. Some people believe that her sister was subtly trying to convey a message that the child should listen to more adult talk so she wouldn’t fall behind other kids.

Now the family tension is doing the talking.

Want more babysitting-era family drama? See what happened when someone asked their sister to rein in her disruptive niece at gatherings.