Spanish immersion daycare or English daycare +Mexican abuelita

[leroy25]

Here’s my dilemma. My 16 mo old is ready for daycare, part time. My husband is fluent heritage Spanish speaker but rarely speaks Spanish to baby. I barely know any, but do my best and speak more Spanish to her than he does (reading other posts, I need to try and learn more now).

I have 3 options on the table for day care/Spanish immersion.

— 100% Spanish speaking grandma nanny (not trained in early education or anything)

— M-W-F Spanish immersion day care + Mexican Grandma T-Th

— M-W-F regular daycare + Mexican Grandma T-Th

The spanish Immersion is most expensive and PT is same price as full time at regular daycare. Also. Regular daycare is a 8 min walk from my house, vice a 12 min drive to immersion.

Do we think the Mexican immersion Daycare will be that much better for baby’s spanish and worth the extra $$ and commute?

 

[anastasiabirago]

@leroy25 Given the money and commute, and if you have a grandparent willing to stay with baby all week, I think the Mexican grandma that exclusively speaks spanish to baby will help the baby learn spanish just fine. You should try to encourage your husband to also speak to baby in spanish, is possible.

 

[leroy25]

@anastasiabirago All my husband’s cousins’ kids were nannied by a Spanish speaking grandma and none of them speak Spanish. They are now in immersion grade school. But it’s not the same. I feel like that alone is not enough.

 

[chels12]

@leroy25 If that is the case, their grandma either was not consistent with only speaking to them in Spanish and/or the children were spoken to in Spanish but only responded in English. It is the same between myself and my second cousins. My grandmother truly created an immersive environment, their grandmother did not.

 

[anastasiabirago]

@leroy25 From what I’ve gathered it’s about establishing a need for the child to speak the language. So as they get older and they continue to have a close relationship with grandma and they know she does not speak English and you can only communicate with her in Spanish (not sure if that is your case or not) they are more likely to use it. This of course is better when they have more people in their lives that they experience this dynamic with, or if certain tv shows can only be watched in Spanish or if certain after school activities they do are in Spanish. Or even just establishing a closeness to the culture overall can help.

On the other hand, I think it’s easy to feel this e”enormous pressure as parents to get our babies to speak as many languages as we have access to, but even creating a foundation for them and then letting them come back to it when they’re older and have a genuine motivation or interest for learning it, that’s ok too. All we can do is our best!

 

[aldredian]

@leroy25 At 16 months, Spanish speaking nanny is probably sufficient for the moment.

Spanish immersion daycare will definitely help too.

But what will truly help is your husband ONLY speaking Spanish to your child. Why isn't he? Have you chatted to him?

I would say your child has a much bigger chance of being fluent in Spanish if your husband speaks to them in Spanish. Further, baby will have an even bigger chance if you can find them Spanish playgroups where all the children are playing in Spanish.

I think regardless which care option you choose, you need to chat with your husband. He needs to start speaking Spanish to your child.

 

[chels12]

@leroy25 You just need someone speaking Spanish to your child consistently. I am fluent in Spanish, first gen in the US, but my dad only spoke English to me. My grandparents were my childcare and only spoke to me in Spanish, and that is how I learned. So if your husband won’t speak in Spanish but his mom consistently will, then I don’t know that the Spanish immersion preschool adds much benefit to warrant the increased cost.