My 3yo son refused to watch cartoons in the ml

Don't feel so bad, this happens and you want the best for your son. Just let him know that. Explain to him you want the best for him and English is a very important language if he wants to be good at school and get a good job when he is an adult. Explain what a good job will enable him to do (buy toys! food, travel etc). Basically, anything you think he might be interested in, explain that having a good job will enable him to do it.

As for the shows he watches, you are the PARENT so you are in CHARGE. I would just tell him only English cartoons are available and if he wants to watch any show, it has to be in English. Explain that he is lucky to be able to watch shows, as some children are not able to watch any shows. You need to get your husband and sister not to show him Korean shows when you aren't home, otherwise this will create a problem. If he understands English, then he can enjoy the English cartoons. Good luck!

Don't be so hard on yourself, Yoonjung. We're all human and sometimes we, parents, get angry and say things we regret later (I know I do it all the time). It doesn't help that it's something you're passionate about, putting a lot of effort into, and fear it may be slipping through your fingers.

What I do when I have one of these outbursts for whatever reason (and I do, of course!) is apologize, say "Mommy shouldn't have done or said this and I'm sorry", then add "But this and that happened and..."

My take on this one is: don't lift the ban; if he wants to watch TV, it needs to be in English. Actually, all the fun stuff should be in English whenever possible: talking toys, TV, books, games...

I have to disagree with Marie on telling your son about his future professional opportunities (sorry, Marie !). I don't think children can understand something that seems so distant in the future. I tell my children that they're lucky they speak English because they can speak with the English speakers we know, that when we go to England they can play with other children in English, have twice as many friends, sing more songs, etc... I'd focus on things kids enjoy now.

Hello and welcome Yoonjung. It sounds like you are doing a great job at making English a significant part of your son's life under difficult circumstances. I don't think you need to panic and take immediate action although I agree that banning Korean cartoons now is a good idea. I think it sounds like you are ready to take stock of where you are and where you would like to be. I can't remember where in Adam's book or on the blog it talks you through how to do that but maybe someone else can point you to the right place.

I think you should take time to list all the reasons why your son will benefit from being bilingual, everything that is going well and the challenges you face now and in the future. You will probably find that what you are doing already will be enough to help your son use English in his future but not enough to make him completely bilingual. That's ok as he will not need an in-depth knowledge of nursery rhymes to use it successfully in his career. But you might start to notice ways to slightly increase his chances in little ways and that could be really significant as it builds up over time. The process of writing it all down and discussing it with your husband might even help you figure out a way to make a big change either now or in a year or two that could be even more helpful.

I agree with everyone else that encouraging your husband to get on board is really important. I don't think that means he has to suddenly switch to using English all the time. Firstly, share a written list of the benefits of being bilingual with your husband and talk about why it is important to you and ask him how he feels. Then share a list of the different levels of English your son might be able to achieve from your worst case scenario (ie he knows a few words but can't understand, he can understand written English but not spoken, he can use business English at a basic level but makes mistakes...all the way up to being fully fluent). Ask your husband where he thinks your son will end up on that scale if you continue as you are and how he feels about that. Maybe it isn't as important to your husband as you so he won't feel he can fully commit to doing everything he can. But maybe he will care enough to help your son achieve a higher level of English.

Then have a list of lots of ways you can both tip the balance a bit more in favour of English and ask your husband if there are any he could help with. I don't think it sounds realistic at the moment for your husband to switch to English but it might be something that could happen later if he starts small and sees his influence is having an impact. If your husband talks about how great it is to know English and praises him for it that will be enough to have a tiny impact. Maybe your husband could help your son be enthusiastic about cartoons or games even if he isn't using English himself. Or maybe you could persuade your husband to read English books to your son.

It sounds like his level of English is higher than my level of Norwegian which I use every day with my son. But my circumstances are very different as I'm at home with my son, I'm a passionate linguist and a trained teacher of young children. That's enough for me to have a go. I don't know the Norwegian word for sloth or furry or fluffy etc etc and when I read a children's book or nursery rhyme I also use Google Translate as often I don't understand what I'm reading. My husband is native Norwegian and doesn't know those words either as he's lived abroad for so long and had zero interest in children before we had our son.

I'm sure what you're doing already is a good foundation to build on and you've come to the right place to get a lot of support to make things even better.

I should also add that sometimes it's the other way around, when it's the man trying to teach the language and the partner doesn't see the importance. I have seen this as well. So it can go either way...it just depends on each individual and how important they find it to make sure their offspring learns the ml language. Some people don't see it as very important. I have some friends who didn't teach their kids and they say they wish they could, but they feel it's too late. Or it's too difficult.

Nellie has a good point. Once we found some books my daughter loves in French she has become obsessed. We bought loads more and she wants to look at them on her own every night. She brings a big pile to bed. She reads out some of the words she recognises or just speaks about the story in French, as she has read the stories before. She also has some favourite French shows. Now, I just need to find out my son's favourites...