By Andréanne Langevin
4:45 PM, rushing to pick up my 2-year-old from daycare. I am just in time again, phew! I walk in and my son immediately sees me among the parents crowded at the entrance. He runs and jumps straight into my arms. The best feeling. After a comforting hug, he says, almost in a frenzy: “mul, mul, mul! 물, 물, 물 ” (water, water, water). I then turn to Serge, his caretaker, and ask him to hand me a glass of water. Taeho grabs it from my hands as if he had been stranded in the desert for a week. This happens almost every week. My son had been thirsty and no one could answer his need, no one understood. My heart aches. How long had he been asking for water? One hour, two?
The issue is that my son is not able to decipher between languages yet. At home we speak three: French, Korean and English. When our son speaks at home, we get very creative simple sentences and find it perfectly adorable. However, when he is out and about and interacts with other adults, our baby is constantly frustrated. We tried explaining to him how Grand-Maman speaks French, Hal-mo-ni 할머니 speaks Korean, and his best friend the neighbour only understands English. We have not been very successful thus far. We are hoping it sorts itself out soon, at least for Taeho’s safety and to have his basic needs met.
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