Baby Talk and Adult Conversation

Have you ever noticed how some parents talk to other adults through their baby? My wife does it when she wants me to do something. She'll say something like this:

[In baby talk] "Do you want daddy to empty the dishwasher, Baby J?"

I've noticed that lots of parent do this. They communicate with others by speaking to their baby. I've even caught myself doing it once or twice. It's kind of strange. After all, Baby J has no clue what a dishwasher is, let alone that it needs to be emptied periodically. It's actually probably pretty confusing to kids. They're just trying to figure out how to put both feet in their mouth at the same time. I doubt they'd even want input into who puts the dishes away even if they could understand.

The other day, a lady I met at a play group wanted to tell me that she liked the stroller I was using. So to her daughter she said:

[In baby talk] "Isn't that a pretty stroller? Don't you like the man's stroller?"

I suppose it was a nice compliment and should leave it at that. But why didn't she simply say to me, "I like your stroller." Her daughter clearly didn't care one way or the other. She was too busy drooling all over the plastic head of her doll.

It's nice that we all want our children to be comfortable in adult conversations but I think we should speak directly to one another instead of in some cloying, circuitous, second-tier communiqué.

[In baby talk] "Isn't that right, computer? Yes it is. We want parents to communicate directly. Yes, we do!"

Listening To: Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd