Parent to Parent

If your child(ren) are school age or older . . .Have you found that your children were more resistant to using the second language as they grew older? If so, how did you handle this?

This was the case with me growing up. I only replied in English even when spoken to in French. I think this is relatively common. My parents did not force me to speak French. My grandparents often tried to urge me to speak French, but I was too much of a perfectionist (ironically influenced by my grandfather himself who was a perfectionist, especially with regards to language and grammar) and I did not want to make any mistakes.

I'm planning on continuing to raise them [my children] in French as I have been without forcing them to speak the language so that they do not become discouraged or resentful. I have always made a point of repeating in French what they say in English, so they are given the appropriate vocabulary and sentence composition.
— Adult raised in bilingual home/Mother of bilingual 4-year old and 2 1/2-year old (French)

A little bit around 7-years old, and we handled this by assuring and extending our annual visits to Venezuela.
— Father of bilingual 11-year old (Spanish)

I do not think so. However they thought it was a good code language in public if they had to make any comments.
— Mother of bilingual adult children (Marathi)

Yes we did find this. They will not speak it unless forced to. We have not dealt with it yet. Friends have enrolled their children in Japanese school on weekends to focus on learning the language — both written and spoken.
— Parents of bilingual 11-year old and 7-year old (Japanese)

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