Bilingual parenting question: Upon disciplining your bilingual child, which language is being used?

Question

We have an 18 month old boy. My issue is that we want a balanced way to maintain discipline in a BILINGUAL home as a UNITED FRONT. Problem: when I discipline our son in Spanish, my hubby doesn't know what I'm saying so he can't reiterate or back me up and our son gets away with his bad behavior but when hubby disciplines in English, I understand so I reiterate his instructions in Spanish and I back him up and my son doesn't get away with it. How the hell do we pull this off? Pick English as the discipline language?

Answer

I’m not in a bilingual family so can only make a suggestion without experience. If you’d like to be able to discipline in both languages what about when you use Spanish to let your hubby know what you are saying in English and then he can back you up in English while you speak Spanish? I don’t think you both need to be using the same language at the same time in this situation(as long as you tell your hubby what you are saying). It may take a minute longer but at least you are getting the back up you want while your child is hearing both languages.

Bilingual parenting question: Upon disciplining your bilingual child, which language is being used?

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