Name: How to talk about children: Common Expressions
Uploaded: 2017-11-19T05:32:03.000Z
Duration: 12 min 55 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

To-infinitive

Hi there. My name is Emma, and today we are
going to do a vocabulary lesson, and we're

going to talk about children and childhood.
So this vocabulary lesson is very good for

anyone who has children, anyone who knows
children, who talk about children, and also

people who are doing the TOEFL and the IELTS
exam. And the reason for the TOEFL and the

IELTS exam is for some of the questions, they may
ask you maybe in the essay or in the speaking

part to talk about your childhood, or if you
have children, to talk about your children.

So this vocabulary lesson can help you to get
a higher score on the vocabulary component,

because you'll be using a little bit more
challenging words and they will recognize that.

So let's get started. Sorry about the siren,
guys. Okay. So, a common grammatical mistake

people make is they don't know when to use
"child" and when to use "children". So, first

of all, "child" means one; one kid, one child.
"Children" is two... Or sorry, "children",

two or more. Okay. So, my friend has three
children. My other friend has just one child.

Another thing I want you to note is the meaning of
"childhood". So when we talk about "childhood",

we're talking about a period of time. A period of
time when we were young, that's our childhood.

So the childhood is the period
of time when you're a child.

All right, so let's look at some different
types... Some of the different stages of childhood

and the terms we use for those. So, first
of all, we have "infant". Okay? "Infant" is

a noun, and it's a synonym of "baby". It's
just sort of like a higher way to say "baby".

"Infants tend to cry a lot." Just an
example sentence of the word "infant".

So, after infant, the baby will get a bit
bigger and it will become a "toddler". So,

a toddler, this is a noun, and it's usually
around the ages of 1 to 2 years old. It's

a child who are... Who is between these ages.
And usually toddlers, they're able to walk,

and they can talk. They say not maybe full
sentences, but you know, they're about 1 to

2 years old. So we use the
term "toddler" for this age.

Now, similar to toddler, we also sometimes
talk about "the terrible twos". So this is

a common English expression, and we use it
when we're talking about toddlers, because

toddlers often scream, they often cry, they
often fight, maybe kick or hit, and so as

a result, parents often call this period of time:
"The Terrible Twos". So, here's an example:

"When children hit the terrible twos, they cry
a lot." Okay? Although I hear the terrible

twos really aren't that terrible, for parents
who, you know, your children are growing,

Okay, next we have "pre-teen". So I've skipped
a lot between here. You'll see that we've

jumped from 2 to 9-13. And the reason for
that is, in general, after about 2 years old,

we just usually use the term "children", "child",
"kid". You can also use the age, too. I have

an 8-year-old kid. I have a 3 year old. I
have a 4 year old. So that's what we usually

So, after that, we get to pre-teen. So, "pre"
means before. So before teenage years. This

is usually between 9 to 13 years old, these
are pre-teens. And this is before a child

hits puberty. That's what "pre-teen" means. This
is also a noun. We're talking about a person.

And then, finally, our last two definitions
for the types: "adolescent" and "teenager".

These words are synonyms. They're for people
between the ages of 13 and 19. So maybe you

have teenagers at home, maybe you have adolescents,
maybe you are a teenager. We can also shorten

this. You will often hear the word "teen". Okay,
so now we're going to learn some vocabulary

about what children do
and what parents do.

So here are a couple vocabulary words that
reflect... Well, they are things that children

do. So most of these are actions. Now, of
course, children do a lot more things than

the three things I have here, but these are
words you may not know. They're words that

can help you if you're doing TOEFL, IELTS,
you know, they're a higher level word.

So, the first word we have is "crawl". "Crawl"
is a verb and it's when children move, but

they're not walking, they're on their arms and
their knees. They crawl across the floor.

So this is what babies do. So first, babies
just lie there, then they crawl, and then

they learn how to walk. So we can say: "Most
infants learn to crawl between 7-12 months."

Next word: "temper tantrum". Okay? You can
also use this for adults, although, this is

mainly what children do. This is actually a
noun. But if we use the verb "throw", we

can say: "Throw a temper tantrum", so this is
the phrase. And when a child throws a temper

tantrum, they pretty much go crazy. They start
to cry, scream, kick, yell, hit. They lose

their minds. And I've seen some pretty bad
temper tantrums. They're not fun things to

deal with. So you can also say this about
an adult, although if an adult is throwing

a temper tantrum, you know, it's like saying
they're just like a kid. They can't control

their emotions; they just go nuts. So that's
"temper tantrum". And again, just to highlight

Okay, our next verb is: "tattle". So "tattle"
is the verb, and "tattle" means when you tell

on someone. So somebody does something bad,
and instead of keeping it to yourself, you

run... Or maybe a child runs up to his mom and
says: "Mommy, mommy, you know, my brother

did this." So that's an example. When you try
to get someone in trouble. So, for example:

"The boy tattled on his sister when she stole
a pen." So the boy tried to get his sister

in trouble. He told maybe their mom. So it's
when you tell someone something to get someone

And somebody who does this a lot, children
call a "tattletale". So a "tattletale" is

someone who always runs to their parent, saying:
"Mommy, mommy, this person did this, this

person did that", you know, always trying
to get someone in trouble. So this is not

a nice thing to be called, especially when
you're a kid. I used to be called this all

the time when I was a kid, because I was always
the one who would run to my mom and tattle

on everyone. Okay, so now we are going to
look at some key words parents... Well, key

Okay. So what do parents do? Well, one thing
they do is they "discipline" their children.

So, "discipline" can be a verb or a noun, and
it means... So some people have different

definitions of this. One definition is it means
to teach children rules. Another definition,

some might say is to punish children. So you
might hear "punishment", you might hear "to

teach children rules". And so let's look at
an example. "I discipline my children with

time-outs." So one method of raising children is
if they act bad... If they misbehave-sorry-parents

might make them sit down away from other children
for 10 minutes. They're not allowed to play,

they're not allowed to do anything. That's a
time-out. Maybe they have to sit in their

room. They're not allowed to do anything. That's
a time out. So that's one form of discipline.

Another form of discipline may be "spanking",
our next word. So "spank" is a verb, and it

means to hit a child on the butt. Okay? So,
I... There's a big debate in North America

right now on whether or not spanking your kid
is okay. Some people say yes, some people

say no. Well, I'll show you our example sentence.
This is true. "When I was a kid, my mom used

to cry when she spanked us." So she felt so
bad about it, she... It was always just a

little hit. You know, we didn't even feel
anything, but we would always pretend to cry

to make her feel bad and to make her cry,
actually. So we were not the nicest children,

but: "My mom used to cry
when she spanked us."

Okay, another form of discipline that parents
might use is "grounding". So "ground" is the

verb, "grounded" is the adjective. Okay? So
what happens when you are grounded? It's a

form of punishment where you're not allowed to
leave your house, you're not allowed sometimes

to leave your room. Your parents may take
away your television, your computer, your

cellphone. So they... You know, you're allowed
to go to school, but that's about it. Or maybe

church, if you go to church or a mosque, or
wherever you go, but you're not allowed to