Hello,
I am English speaking, live in London and have a beautiful 5 month old boy. My wife speaks English at home but she is also Welsh speaking so she is keen for our child to be raised as an English speaking boy, but also know a little Welsh – which I am more then supportive of.
However, when we visit my wife’s family, they are so passionate about their language that the mainly speak Welsh even when I am around as they argue that it is their natural language. I have just accepted this in the past but now I have a child it’s becoming more of a problem. So when we visit, I’ll be hold my child and my wife’s family will chat to each other and my child in Welsh and I’ll be standing there looking around the room with no idea what is being said – which leaves me to feel very isolated.
Unfortunately this has let to a few arguments with my wife but I am determined to not let this become a problem for us and our child. So I’m after some advice please.
We are visiting again this weekend and I intend to be completely transparent with my feelings. My suggestion will be that when I am around and there is an open discussion then I will ask people to speak English – but if I’m around, then I’m more then happy for people to speak to my child in Welsh and teach him his heritage. But it’s a very difficult subject to approach so any advice is truly welcome.
Rob
