Vanessa: Let's imagine that
your family's going on a road trip. What is the number one thing that kids say on a road trip?
"Are we there yet?" This can really make parents annoyed, but it is a common phrase used by kids,
and that's what we're going to talk about today. Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com,
and today you are going to learn the top 15 English phrases that children say. So if you
have children, if you are around children, or if you would just like to boost your vocabulary
so that when you watch a movie and a TV show and you hear children speak, you can understand them,
well, today's lesson is for you. Like always, I've created a free PDF worksheet with all of
today's 15 children's phrases, the definitions, several sample sentences so that you can never
forget what you've learned and master English. You can click on the link in the description
to download this free PDF worksheet today. All right, let's get started with the first common
phrase that children say, and who better to teach you children's English vocabulary than children?
Let's watch. Theo:
Look, mom. Look, dad. Freddie:
Dad. Theo:
Look, mom. Look, dad. Freddie:
Dad. Vanessa:
Kids always want their parents or other adults to see what they're doing,
so this is a really common phrase. "Look, mom, I'm going down the slide." "Look, mom,
a really big spider." "Look, dad." So this phrase is maybe the one that I hear the most,
but then again, my children are really young. So it's extremely common for young children to say,
"Look, mom. Look, dad." Freddie:
I'm hungry. Theo:
Is it snack time yet? Freddie:
I'm hungry. Theo:
Is it snack time yet? Vanessa:
Kids always seem to be hungry, right? So when a child says, "I'm hungry, is it snack time yet?"
what would the adult say to this situation? Well, they could say, "No, it's dinner time soon. Don't
spoil your appetite." That's what my mom said a lot. "Don't spoil your appetite," which means if
you eat now, you're not going to eat dinner later. Don't spoil your appetite. Or you might say,
"Yeah, you can go grab an apple from the fridge." Cool. This is two different ways to respond to,
"Is it snack time yet? I'm hungry." Theo:
Why? Why? Why? Freddie:
Why? Why? Why? Theo:
Why? Why? Why? Freddie:
Why? Why? Why? Vanessa:
I think all young children around the world, no matter your native language or background,
they all go through a why phase, where the question, the response to everything is,
"Why? Why?" If you say, "Let's eat breakfast," what are they going to say? "Why?"
If you say, "I'm going to drink my tea before we go to the park," they might say, "Why?" In fact,
for my son, Freddie, when he was two years old, he asked why so much, and sometimes in those
situations it made zero sense. For example, let me tell you a little silly story. Sometimes he
would ask why with something he said himself. So sometimes he would say, "Mom, let's go play
Legos." And I would say, "Okay," and then he said, "Why?" How am I supposed to respond to that? But
this is the essence of the why question. It's just kind of a reflex that kids ask, "Why? Why?"
They're so curious about the world. Freddie:
That's not fair. Theo:
Not fair. Freddie:
That's not fair. Theo:
Not fair. Vanessa:
It's true that children have a really strong sense of what is just and what is injust. Their sense
of injustice is really strong. So they might use this phrase, "It's not fair," or, "That's
not fair," when they sense that something is not just. So if they said, "You got more cake than me,
that's not fair," they sense that there is an imbalance here, and they might use this phrase,
"It's not fair." Freddie:
I'm bored. Theo:
Bored. Freddie:
I'm bored. Theo:
Bored. Vanessa:
When kids aren't playing with something or someone else, they might say, "I'm bored," and there's
two different ways that you can respond to this. There's probably a lot of ways you can respond,
but if a child says, "Mom, I'm bored," well, you could offer an activity. "Hey, why don't you go
get your new book and we can read it together." Okay, you're providing a suggestion. Sometimes in
my house, this doesn't work because they just say, "No, I don't want to." Sometimes it works though,
but you can also play it off as a little joke. Let me tell you a typical dad joke as we
call them. This is because they are corny, not extremely funny. Usually you just roll your eyes,
ugh, whenever you hear one. But sometimes when I said, "I'm bored," to my dad, how did he respond?
"Hi, bored, nice to meet you. I'm dad." How does a child respond to this except just roll their
eyes. "Ugh, dad." But it's just a funny way to respond. Maybe in your country too, there are dad
jokes or parents respond with these kind of silly responses to just daily situations because you
just got to try to push through sometimes. Theo:
Are we there yet? Freddie:
Yet? Theo:
Are we there yet? Freddie:
Yet? Vanessa:
So you heard this phrase at the beginning of today's lesson,
but what is the most common phrase you hear in the car? "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
Sometimes only 30 minutes into a long road trip, kids start asking, "Are we there yet?"
And it's tough because kids don't really have a sense of time and maybe they're not in control
of the trip, so they don't know you've got eight hours left in the car. So they ask,
"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Or you can try to distract your children
from asking, "Are we there yet," by playing some games. In our house, we like to play 20 questions.
We don't often count the 20 questions. Sometimes we call it I'm thinking of an animal. This works
really well with young children. You can make it much more complicated for older children where
one person thinks of an animal and each person in our family takes a turn. So if you're thinking of
a tiger, other people have to ask yes or no questions. Is it a mammal? Is it bigger than
a rabbit? Does it eat plants? Does it eat meat? And you try to guess what that animal is. This
is the most common car game in our family, I'm thinking of an animal, but you could change this
to anything and have it be completely open-ended so that you can avoid the annoying question of,
"Are we there yet?" Freddie:
It wasn't me. Theo:
I didn't do it. Freddie:
It wasn't me. Theo:
I didn't do it. Vanessa:
When something bad happens, what is the common phrase you're going to hear? "It wasn't me. I
didn't do it." I think it's kind of human nature, right, that humans try to push away
the blame from themselves and blame someone else. And maybe it really wasn't that child's fault,
but they don't want to get in trouble. So what do they say? "It wasn't me. I didn't do it." If you
hear a really loud crash in the other room and you run over to see what it was, well,
I guarantee one of the children will say, "I didn't do it. It wasn't me."
And maybe it wasn't their fault, or maybe it was. Freddie:
I'm telling mom. Theo:
I'm telling dad. Freddie:
I'm telling mom. Theo:
I'm telling dad. Vanessa:
Often when siblings can't get along and solve a problem, this is what you hear. "I'm telling mom."
"I'm telling dad." And they're trying to take their problem to a higher authority in hopes of
justice. So this phrase is coming up more and more often in my house as my sons, Theo and Freddie,
play together and argue together, they're saying this more and more and it's my goal as a parent
to try to help them work out their problems together. But sometimes they need to come to us,
and so I hear this phrase, "Uh, stop hitting me. I'm telling mom," and you know what? I'm
there to try to help them, but I do want them to try to help each other and figure it out together
at the same time. Theo:
I don't like that. Freddie:
I don't like that. Theo:
I don't like that. Freddie:
I don't like that. Vanessa:
Unfortunately, it's pretty common that kids are picky eaters. Thankfully, my children eat
everything. They're not picky at all. In fact, we might even say they eat us out of house and home,
which means they eat so much food. But it is also common that children don't like unfamiliar
foods or they feel uncomfortable trying unfamiliar foods. So they might say, "I don't like that," or,
"I don't like," whatever the food is. "I don't like chicken. I don't like tomatoes." And what
can you say to this? Well, I think in our house, the way we respond is, "Well, you don't have to
eat it. It doesn't mean I'm going to make you something different, but you don't have to eat
it. I'm not going to force you to eat that." And maybe that's worked because they're not picky.
They eat everything, but we just say, "Well, you don't have to eat it. I'm not going to make you
a separate dinner, but you don't have to eat it." Sometimes parents respond when their children say,
"No, I don't like that," sometimes parents say, "How do you know you don't like it? You haven't
even tried it yet." Or they might say, "Well, you only need to try two bites." This is a common
cultural thing in the US where parents ask their children to eat two bites. This is just trying it,
and do you know a little secret? In my family, we tell our children, "You know what? Last time
that we had salmon, you didn't like it. But that was a month ago and our taste buds change all the
time so maybe this time you'll like it." And it is true. Our cells are always regenerating
and changing, and we do change the foods that we like. When I was a kid, I did not like salmon. I
did not like sweet potatoes. Those were the two things I did not like and now I love them. So it
is true that our taste buds change, but I think it's important to tell kids that, "Maybe the
last time you didn't like it, but this time your taste buds might have changed. Why don't you give
it a try and see if your taste buds have changed?" And oftentimes this works, they'll try it and say,
"Oh yeah, I like it now." Or maybe you prepared that food in a different way and now they like
it because I think it's important that children enjoy the eating experience with their family,
and it can be a lot of tension if they don't like a lot of foods. So this is a little trick that has
worked for us. Theo:
Actually... Freddie:
Actually... Theo:
Actually... Freddie:
Actually... Vanessa:
Kids love to correct someone. And it was really funny to me when my son, Freddie, I think when he
was two years old, he started to use actually, and it was one of his first big words. This word is
complicated because you're looking at a reality. Well, you like pancakes. And he might say,
"Actually, I like waffles better." So it's kind of a complicated concept and it's a great big word
for a child to start using. So when your kids want to correct someone else, they might say,
"Actually, I like waffles better." And when my son was two and he said this, he couldn't pronounce
it correctly. He said something like, "actwee" and then it became more and more correct, and he said,
"Actually. Actually," and it became a little bit clearer as time went on, but this is a fun way to
correct someone and kids love doing that. Theo:
I never want to play with you again. Freddie:
I never want to play with you again. Theo:
I never want to play with you again. Freddie:
I never want to play with you again. Vanessa:
Like we talked about with the previous phrase, kids love to correct someone. This has to do
with a sense of power. Kids don't have much power or control in their lives so
what do they have control over? Well, they have control over their birthday generally,
and who they play with generally. So you might hear these two phrases when a child is angry and
they're trying to have some power or control: "You're not invited to my birthday party," or,
"I'm never playing with you ever again." I've actually heard my kids, actually, to use that
phrase, I've actually heard my kids say this to each other a few times, but do you know what?
Within five minutes they're playing with each other again. So really, it's just a facade of
power, a facade of anger. What is the strongest thing that they can think of to say? "I'm never
going to play with you ever again." Ooh, sounds so strong. And then they're playing together a
couple minutes later. Theo:
You're not the boss of me. Freddie:
You're not the boss of me. Theo:
You're not the boss of me. Freddie:
You're not the boss of me. Vanessa:
To continue with the idea of power and control, sometimes kids will say this
to each other. Hopefully they don't say this to an adult, but it is possible. If they say,
"You are not the boss of me," ooh, it feels like' "I'm the boss of myself. I'm in control of myself
and you can't tell me what to do." So you might hear this if an older sibling is talking to a
younger sibling and the older sibling says, "Clean up those toys." The younger sibling might say,
"You're not the boss of me." They're the one that's in control. Yeah, maybe it's their mess,
maybe it's their toys, but they want to have that sense of control. So they might say,
"You're not the boss of me." Freddie:
I'm not a baby. Theo:
I'm not a baby. Freddie:
I'm not a baby. Theo:
I'm not a baby. Vanessa:
Most kids don't want to be babied. To be babied means that you are treating someone like a
baby. For babies, you have to take care of them completely because they're not capable of doing
anything. So as kids get older, they feel more sensitive about those types of things. So for
example, when I bring out the container of yogurt and I start to put it in my three-year-old's bowl,
he might use this phrase, "I'm not a baby. I can do it myself." This idea that, "I'm old enough,
I'm big enough," I think, isn't it ironic? Kids are always wanting to be bigger and not a baby.
And then as adults we think, "Oh, wouldn't it be nice to have just the carefree feelings of
childhood again?" No one's satisfied where they are. So oftentimes kids will say,
"I'm not a baby." Or it's possible, for example, if you are going to watch a movie or a show and
your child says, 'No, I don't want to watch that, that's for babies," it's that same idea that, "No,
I'm too old to do that now. That's for babies." Theo:
Seriously? Freddie:
Seriously? Theo:
Seriously? Freddie:
Seriously? Vanessa:
Now, this phrase and our final phrase are ones that are used by older children. My children
don't really use these yet on a daily basis, but this one means they're surprised. "Really?
Are you serious?" And you just shorten this to one word. "Seriously?" So I remember at birthday
parties when I was a child, when someone gave me a present, I would just rip open the package
and my mom would say, "Wait, Vanessa, you need to open the card first." But there's nothing harder
for a child than opening the card, reading the message before you open the exciting present. So
when my mom said, "Vanessa, you need to open the card first before you open the present,"
I could say this: "Seriously? I just want to open the present." But really it's polite to
open the card before the present, read the nice message, see who the present's from, and then
open the present. But a child might not be very happy with that. And they might say, "Seriously?"
Theo: Jinx.
Freddie: Jinx.
Theo: Jinx.
Freddie: Jinx.
Vanessa: This phrase is a fun one. It's not one that my
kids say regularly yet. It's for older children. It's not a bad word, but it's just something that
they haven't learned yet, and it is jinx. It's quite fun because you say this when you say the
exact same thing as someone else at the exact same time. So when both kids say at the exact
same time something, they will say, "Jinx," and try to say the word jinx first. Does this kind of
game exist in your country? Sometimes we even add something onto this. Sometimes we just say jinx
to acknowledge in kind of a fun way that we said something at the exact same time, but sometimes,
at least when I was younger, we would say, "Jinx, you owe me a pop." And pop is the northern word.
In the south where I live now, people say Coke, but it's a soft drink, a soda like Coca-Cola,
and we would say, "You owe me a pop," which means you need to give me something special,
like a special drink or something. But you can often just keep this at
jinx. But when you're watching a movie or TV show, you might hear people add something onto that,
especially kids if they're having fun. "Jinx, you owe me..." Something, I don't know. "You
owe me a pop. You owe me some candy. You owe me something because we said it at the same
time and I said jinx first." A fun little game. Well, congratulations. Now you can understand
the children in your life and also in movies and TV shows when you watch them in English.
Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet for today's lesson with all of these phrases,
the definitions and the sample sentences so that you can never forget what you've learned,
go out into the world and use your new English knowledge. You can click on the link in the
description to download that free PDF worksheet today. And now I have a question for you. Let me
know in the comments, does the game jinx exist in your native language? What happens when two
people say something at the same time? Does anything happen? Do you say anything? This is
common in the US, but I'm curious what it's like where you're from. Let me know in the comments,
and thank you so much for learning English with me. I'll see you again next Friday for a new
lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. All right, Fred, put the cord down.
That's going to mess it up and we'll have to start over. Okay, Freddie, you say "I'm telling Mom."
Freddie: Why, why, why, why, why? Why, why, why, why, why?
Vanessa: Okay.
Theo: You won't get your chocolate almond.
Freddie: Jinx.
Theo: Jinx.
Freddie: Jinx.
Theo: Jinx.
Freddie: Jinx.
Theo: We're done. Jinx.
Freddie: We're done. Jinx.
Theo: Not after me. At the same time.
Speaker 4: At the same time, Freddie.
Vanessa: But wait,
do you want more? I recommend watching this video next where my two sons, Theo and Freddie,
make muffins with me in the kitchen. You will also be exposed to a lot of daily life English
vocabulary used with children and used with cooking, because we're going to be
doing this together. Make sure you check out that video and I'll see you there.