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[–] 95 points 1 month ago (9 children)

My boss works from home and has a baby who hates his work voice (by which I mean his normal voice), so lately our morning calls have involved 15 minutes of normal work followed by some baby screaming, followed by the next 10 or 15 minutes of him using a silly song-song voice to talk about tech metrics and whatnot. I like to reply with my patronizing voice.

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  • [–] 50 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    I have so much empathy for parents with their seemingly endless patience, I know I wouldn't last a month in their position.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 month ago

    You kinda don't have a choice. Babies/kids are not going to respond to anger well and it's also not something you want them to emulate. Also trading off with the other parent or family is also helpful when it gets too much. Thinking about it that honestly applies across most if not all relationships but especially in teaching/mentoring

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    It's not for everyone. The continuous grind is exhausting. However, having a little bit of your soul outside your body, and vulnerable, has an incredible effect on your motivation. I find myself happy to push through exhaustion to set something up for my little minion. For them it's a fun activity for an hour. For me, it's several hours of work to give them a fun experience.

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  • [–] 35 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Huh interesting. We had a chat with our midwife and she offhandedly said it would be easier on parents to skip the baby talk/voice, and just speak in your normal calm voice so the baby gets used to the "real" you.

    I guess your story perfectly illustrates her point.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Baby talk has its place. It's structured to help with learning to talk. It also acts as an indicator "pay attention to this". The mistake most parents make is continuing it too long. Once they start talking, shift out of it to full sentences etc.

    That said, if they only hear you talking baby talk, you're doing them a disservice. They need both.

    In the OP, the baby likely just wanted more attention. Non-baby talk = less attention, in their mind.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Eh, I don't know. Ours had no trouble talking in full sentences by 2 without it. I'm interested to see some data.

    Also our indicator of "pay attention to this" was, well, giving them some attention. Eye contact, touch, etc.

    But yeah, sample size of one. Maybe you're right. I don't know. Kids are weird. Β―\⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    I watched a documentary on it a while back. Basically, baby talk actually follows a lot of rules religiously, that often gets blurred in normal speech. This lets babies lock on to the rules faster. The sounds are also emphasised. This makes mouth movements more obvious, and gives a better reference for practice. It also includes a lot of repetition, which also helps with practicing hearing words, rather than just sounds. The sing song nature also acts as an indicator. This talking is for you to learn from.

    Once they start speaking however, you want to transition to full sentences. The sing song nature can hang around, along with slightly simplified language. Think of it like training wheels. Great for early learning, but a detriment if left in use too long.

    Mine was reliably responding to commands at around 3 months. About 6 months for first words. They were talking in full sentences happily about 18 months (I think. We didn't get full night sleeping till gone 24 months. The period is slightly blurry.)

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  • [–] 33 points 1 month ago

    What a bitch

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  • [+] 56 points 1 month ago* (13 children)
  • [–] 22 points 1 month ago* (8 children)

    She snaps she growls
    She has very strong opinions about what the pack should be doing

    that's neither acceptable nor cute. dog is not the one who should be making decisions about what the pack is doing. you should do something about it before it ends bad for the dog and/or someone else.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Just FYI, the Alpha Pack Theory has been thoroughly discredited. I hope the other poster is addressing problematic behavior (if it exists) with their vet and other experts, but we have no idea. The "pack", however, has nothing to do with it...

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago

    Just FYI, the Alpha Pack Theory has been thoroughly discredited

    that is completely irrelevant to the point i am making. the dog should still not set the rules of the household and enforce them with their teeth, because if you let such behaviour continue, it will sooner or later get someone hurt and the dog euthanized.

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  • [+] 25 points 1 month ago (4 children)
  • [–] 42 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    I think it's time for you to divorce the dog, hit a lawyer, delete the gym, etc

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    My cats behave similarly - if i am not lying down so they can cuddle with me in the evening, one of them starts giving me little love bites all over my arm and the other one becomes annoying as fuck by throwing small things off tables and stuff like that

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