How to talk about children: Common Expressions
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Hi there. My name is Emma, and today we are going to do a vocabulary lesson, and we're
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going to talk about children and childhood. So this vocabulary lesson is very good for
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anyone who has children, anyone who knows children, who talk about children, and also
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people who are doing the TOEFL and the IELTS exam. And the reason for the TOEFL and the
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IELTS exam is for some of the questions, they may ask you maybe in the essay or in the speaking
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part to talk about your childhood, or if you have children, to talk about your children.
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So this vocabulary lesson can help you to get a higher score on the vocabulary component,
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because you'll be using a little bit more challenging words and they will recognize that.
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So let's get started. Sorry about the siren, guys. Okay. So, a common grammatical mistake
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people make is they don't know when to use "child" and when to use "children". So, first
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of all, "child" means one; one kid, one child. "Children" is two... Or sorry, "children",
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two or more. Okay. So, my friend has three children. My other friend has just one child.
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Okay?
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Another thing I want you to note is the meaning of "childhood". So when we talk about "childhood",
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we're talking about a period of time. A period of time when we were young, that's our childhood.
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So the childhood is the period of time when you're a child.
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All right, so let's look at some different types... Some of the different stages of childhood
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and the terms we use for those. So, first of all, we have "infant". Okay? "Infant" is
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a noun, and it's a synonym of "baby". It's just sort of like a higher way to say "baby".
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"Infants tend to cry a lot." Just an example sentence of the word "infant".
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So, after infant, the baby will get a bit bigger and it will become a "toddler". So,
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a toddler, this is a noun, and it's usually around the ages of 1 to 2 years old. It's
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a child who are... Who is between these ages. And usually toddlers, they're able to walk,
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and they can talk. They say not maybe full sentences, but you know, they're about 1 to
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2 years old. So we use the term "toddler" for this age.
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Now, similar to toddler, we also sometimes talk about "the terrible twos". So this is
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a common English expression, and we use it when we're talking about toddlers, because
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toddlers often scream, they often cry, they often fight, maybe kick or hit, and so as
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a result, parents often call this period of time: "The Terrible Twos". So, here's an example:
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"When children hit the terrible twos, they cry a lot." Okay? Although I hear the terrible
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twos really aren't that terrible, for parents who, you know, your children are growing,
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maybe it won't be such a bad time.
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Okay, next we have "pre-teen". So I've skipped a lot between here. You'll see that we've
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jumped from 2 to 9-13. And the reason for that is, in general, after about 2 years old,
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we just usually use the term "children", "child", "kid". You can also use the age, too. I have
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an 8-year-old kid. I have a 3 year old. I have a 4 year old. So that's what we usually
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use for the ages between 2 and 9.
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So, after that, we get to pre-teen. So, "pre" means before. So before teenage years. This
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is usually between 9 to 13 years old, these are pre-teens. And this is before a child
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hits puberty. That's what "pre-teen" means. This is also a noun. We're talking about a person.
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And then, finally, our last two definitions for the types: "adolescent" and "teenager".
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These words are synonyms. They're for people between the ages of 13 and 19. So maybe you
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have teenagers at home, maybe you have adolescents, maybe you are a teenager. We can also shorten
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this. You will often hear the word "teen". Okay, so now we're going to learn some vocabulary
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about what children do and what parents do.
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So here are a couple vocabulary words that reflect... Well, they are things that children
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do. So most of these are actions. Now, of course, children do a lot more things than
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the three things I have here, but these are words you may not know. They're words that
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can help you if you're doing TOEFL, IELTS, you know, they're a higher level word.
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So, the first word we have is "crawl". "Crawl" is a verb and it's when children move, but
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they're not walking, they're on their arms and their knees. They crawl across the floor.
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So this is what babies do. So first, babies just lie there, then they crawl, and then
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they learn how to walk. So we can say: "Most infants learn to crawl between 7-12 months."
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Okay? So that's "crawl".
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Next word: "temper tantrum". Okay? You can also use this for adults, although, this is
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mainly what children do. This is actually a noun. But if we use the verb "throw", we
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can say: "Throw a temper tantrum", so this is the phrase. And when a child throws a temper
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tantrum, they pretty much go crazy. They start to cry, scream, kick, yell, hit. They lose
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their minds. And I've seen some pretty bad temper tantrums. They're not fun things to
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deal with. So you can also say this about an adult, although if an adult is throwing
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a temper tantrum, you know, it's like saying they're just like a kid. They can't control
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their emotions; they just go nuts. So that's "temper tantrum". And again, just to highlight
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this, you throw a temper tantrum.
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Okay, our next verb is: "tattle". So "tattle" is the verb, and "tattle" means when you tell
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on someone. So somebody does something bad, and instead of keeping it to yourself, you
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run... Or maybe a child runs up to his mom and says: "Mommy, mommy, you know, my brother
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did this." So that's an example. When you try to get someone in trouble. So, for example:
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"The boy tattled on his sister when she stole a pen." So the boy tried to get his sister
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in trouble. He told maybe their mom. So it's when you tell someone something to get someone
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in trouble. Okay?
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And somebody who does this a lot, children call a "tattletale". So a "tattletale" is
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someone who always runs to their parent, saying: "Mommy, mommy, this person did this, this
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person did that", you know, always trying to get someone in trouble. So this is not
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a nice thing to be called, especially when you're a kid. I used to be called this all
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the time when I was a kid, because I was always the one who would run to my mom and tattle
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on everyone. Okay, so now we are going to look at some key words parents... Well, key
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things parents do.
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Okay. So what do parents do? Well, one thing they do is they "discipline" their children.
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So, "discipline" can be a verb or a noun, and it means... So some people have different
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definitions of this. One definition is it means to teach children rules. Another definition,
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some might say is to punish children. So you might hear "punishment", you might hear "to
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teach children rules". And so let's look at an example. "I discipline my children with
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time-outs." So one method of raising children is if they act bad... If they misbehave-sorry-parents
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might make them sit down away from other children for 10 minutes. They're not allowed to play,
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they're not allowed to do anything. That's a time-out. Maybe they have to sit in their
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room. They're not allowed to do anything. That's a time out. So that's one form of discipline.
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Another form of discipline may be "spanking", our next word. So "spank" is a verb, and it
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means to hit a child on the butt. Okay? So, I... There's a big debate in North America
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right now on whether or not spanking your kid is okay. Some people say yes, some people
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say no. Well, I'll show you our example sentence. This is true. "When I was a kid, my mom used
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to cry when she spanked us." So she felt so bad about it, she... It was always just a
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little hit. You know, we didn't even feel anything, but we would always pretend to cry
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to make her feel bad and to make her cry, actually. So we were not the nicest children,
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but: "My mom used to cry when she spanked us."
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Okay, another form of discipline that parents might use is "grounding". So "ground" is the
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verb, "grounded" is the adjective. Okay? So what happens when you are grounded? It's a
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form of punishment where you're not allowed to leave your house, you're not allowed sometimes
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to leave your room. Your parents may take away your television, your computer, your
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cellphone. So they... You know, you're allowed to go to school, but that's about it. Or maybe
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church, if you go to church or a mosque, or wherever you go, but you're not allowed to
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hang out with your friends, you're not allowed to go see movies. You're not allowed to do
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fun things. So that's what happens when you are grounded. And so, if you watch North American
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TV, you'll probably hear, if there's ever a TV show where there's a child and a parent,
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at some point you'll probably hear these words: "You're grounded." Meaning you can't go out,
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you're being punished. Okay?
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And finally, the last word we have on this list is "raise". So not "rise", "raise" with
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an "a", "ai". "Raise" is a verb and it means to take care of children, and to bring up
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children, to teach children until they become adults. So you're looking at the period of
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time from when they're children or even babies to adults, that period of time. It's when
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the parents or guardians take care of the children. So, oftentimes, when parents talk,
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they like their children to be a certain way, so they say: "I raised my son to be honest.",
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"I raised my daughter to respect others.", "I raised my children to be hard-working."
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So, you often hear parents say these sentences, especially as their children get older.
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Okay, so I hope you've enjoyed this video. So, again, it's very important for people
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who are doing the TOEFL, IELTS. If you get a question about childhood or children, you
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can use any of these terms, and it may improve your vocabulary mark. This video's also good
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for anyone with children.
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So, I invite you to come to our website at www.engvid.com,
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and you can practice out these words in our quiz.
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So, until next time, take care.
