How old was your DC when you could no longer spell things to keep things from them?

[ourbabygirl]

DD is 3, but she is such a smart little stinker that I really can't hide much from her anymore. She hears me rustle a plastic bag in the kitchen and immediately comes in to ask for some of the candy I'm trying to hide from her. She remembers so much that I think I'll have to be very careful with gifts in her stocking, Easter basket, etc. If she asks for something and I tell her we'll do it/ get it tomorrow, it's the first thing she asks about when she wakes up in the morning. ;)
I think spelling may be the final frontier, so I'm wondering how many more years it will last.

Do you remember how long your child was when you could no longer spell something out loud (to your spouse/ whatever) to keep something private/ a secret from the child?

[Octobermommy]

My dd was like that too. It was either 4 or early 5. Enjoy the time now!

[egoldber]

Older DD could not spell that well until age 6. And even then, if we spelled really fast she couldn't keep up. ;)

But the problem is some words sound like how they are spelled.

[mmommy]

DH was just spelling things out when skypeing with MIL and step-FIL so DD (2 yo) wouldn't understand. But they couldn't understand either :ROTFLMAO: So for some 60 year olds it is still safe to do. (although I've never claimed MIL is bright. She is many things, but not that)

[georgiegirl]

We can't spell anything anymore. Dd is 5 and in kindergarten. She now spells stuff so DS (2) doesn't understand. It's pretty funny actually.

[lalasmama]

Once we couldn't spell most things (she'd use context clues and guess from some of the letters spelled around 6 years old), we moved on to "creative" wording.

My DD is nearly 8yo, and I've been able to discuss a surprise Disneyland trip IN FRONT OF HER using lots of creative vocabulary. A sample of a recent phone conversation between my sister and I had me saying:

"So, on Friday of six weeks from now, there will be a celebration of the coming forth of the octagon-child's existence. During said activity, a decapitated rodent's sound receptacles will be placed in said offspring's skull after decoding the script. The following 24 hours, we will embark upon the big silver bird to the Orange area bird house. From there, we will board a touring traveler, and go to the overnight rental named Aunt Heather. We plan to introduce ourselves to the rodent on God's Day of Rest." Translation: "Her birthday party will be on Friday, where she'll be receiving Mickey ears that say "I'm going to Disneyland!" Saturday morning, we're taking an airplane to the LA area, and using a tour bus to get to our hotel [which shares the nick-name of a friend]. We'll meet Mickey Sunday morning."

But, when I ask DD when we are going to Disneyland, well... she still thinks she'll be 9 or 10.

So, there is hope after spelling. You just have to use a lot of creative language :)

[kijip]

After spelling is in her repertoire, you get to brush up on any foreign lang skills you have in common with whichever adult you are communicating with.

[MissyAg94]

When my mom was here for the holidays, my DD(6) told her that in our house if someone wants to say a bad word, they spell it instead. Yikes! She thought that all this time, my husband and I were spelling curse words.

[wencit]

DS1 is 5 1/2 and just starting to figure out words that DH and I are spelling. We now spell the words backwards, which actually takes some brainpower on our part, unfortunately!

"Let's go get some M-A-E-R-C E-C-I."

"Huh?!"

[KpbS]

5 yo. DS1 is uncanny at this even though he his not the best speller himself :)

[Uno-Mom]

Alas, we can't get away with it anymore for many things. Not that Sprog is a proficient speller at two; she's just figured things out by context the first or second time and thinks "i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m" is just another way to say "ice cream." Same goes for Binky, PJs, Bed, car, music and others.

Sigh.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Alas, we can't get away with it anymore for many things. Not that Sprog is a proficient speller at two; she's just figured things out by context the first or second time and thinks "i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m" is just another way to say "ice cream."

Sigh.

:yeahthat:

my DS just turned 2 last week and it's the same thing. I doubt he can really spell, it's just that DS has a photographic memory and is REALLY good at figuring things out from context. After a few times of "Should we let him watch a T-H-O-M-A-S for a little bit?" he caught on. I think he's also figured out pizza.

[belovedgandp]

Context got us in trouble a lot. I also stink at spelling, so DH had to speak slowly which didn't help. By 4 our stand-bys were gone - ice cream, bed, bath, movie, cookie.

Those were also the first words our oldest knew how to spell. He figured out by 5 to do that around his little brother. He a little more than 3 years older.

[MontrealMum]

DS figured out some words by 3 and more by 4, though he can neither read nor spell at this point. Off the table for sure now are: bath, pizza, nap, bed, and h#ll. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more. Of course anything longer than that and I run the risk that DH won't know what I'm spelling. We're screwed on the foreign language front as the only other language we have in common is French and DS is bilingual.

[randomkid]

DD was 5 and in K. She just took off with reading and spelling at that age. DH and I would spell out of habit and she would proudly announce what we had just spelled. Lalasmama - *I* would never be able to follow that conversation! I am impressed that you can come up with all that. Of course, I am not very creative. The foreign language thing is a good idea, but I know some Spanish, DH knows some German and I am fairly certain that DD knows a lot more Spanish than DH! We just have to say it very quietly while DD is distracted, which doesn't always work, or wait until she is out of earshot. If we are in the car, there is really no answer. We can still spell longer words if we do it fast, but then it sometimes has to be repeated a couple of times. If it's a short word, even spelling fast, DD will get it.

[sarahsthreads]

I would say DD1 had us pretty licked at that by 5, even if we spelled quickly. We then switched to Pig Latin, which confused the heck out of her (seriously, you don't know what I'm saying when I say "ice-ay eamcray"?!?) until she watched a Phineas and Ferb where they made up Ferb Latin. Then she figured it out pretty quick. (Good thing, too, because it often confused the heck out of DH and was tiring.) So now we've got nothing - no matter how we try to word things in a confusing manner ("maybe we should obtain a confection comprised of sucrose and lactose in a solid state"), she figures it out. So we just basically can't talk about things in front of her anymore. She's 7.

Then again, the dogs know what you're saying when you spell "walk", "food", "out" or "treat", so honestly maybe DD1 was slow in learning the spelling patterns for important words? :ROTFLMAO:

Sarah :)

[MSWR0319]

DS is 3 and sounds like your DD. we've been spelling awhile and he's starting to know what we are saying. I know he can't spell, but he's apparently figured out that when we spell certain words and then do x it means the same thing. great. I can speak enough Spanish to communicate but DH can't. So I don't know what we're going to do!

[Gena]

We could never spell things in front of DS. He has hyperlexia, which is a language disorder that combines very early reading with difficulties processing verbal language. We realized that DS could read & spell (almost anything) just after he turned 2, even though he didn't talk until he was almost 3. When he did start to talk, he orally spelled most things instead of using words.

As a result, DH and I had to develop elaborate codes to talk about things in front of DS. We still do it.

[Melaine]

I do the creative wording like lalasmama, but sometimes DH doesn't follow it well:ROTFLMAO:
Don't get me wrong, he is super smart (smarter than I am, it's a fact), but I talk fast and his vocab isn't quite what mine is.

The girls definitely know the spelling of some of the major words I used to spell: park, zoo, cookies.

[zag95]

"So, on Friday of six weeks from now, there will be a celebration of the coming forth of the octagon-child's existence. During said activity, a decapitated rodent's sound receptacles will be placed in said offspring's skull after decoding the script. The following 24 hours, we will embark upon the big silver bird to the Orange area bird house. From there, we will board a touring traveler, and go to the overnight rental named Aunt Heather. We plan to introduce ourselves to the rodent on God's Day of Rest." Translation: "Her birthday party will be on Friday, where she'll be receiving Mickey ears that say "I'm going to Disneyland!" Saturday morning, we're taking an airplane to the LA area, and using a tour bus to get to our hotel [which shares the nick-name of a friend]. We'll meet Mickey Sunday morning."

But, when I ask DD when we are going to Disneyland, well... she still thinks she'll be 9 or 10.

So, there is hope after spelling. You just have to use a lot of creative language :)

:yeahthat: That is too funny! I like the big silver bird...... going to the Orange bird nest!:rotflmao: Can't wait to hear about her reaction! Please be sure to capture on film!!!!