How to manage a language barrier as a parent?
My son is 12m and has been going to daycare since he was 6m old. When he started the lead and co-lead were people who spoke English fluently. The co-lead left a couple months ago to move on to Pre-K at the same facility. As of last week the lead teacher has also moved on to the 2s room at the same facility. I'm not thrilled about the turnover but feel better about it knowing that both of them are staying with the company. Both of them have been working there for over 5 years which is part of what sold me on this daycare, but whatever. They're growing in their careers, good for them.
My issue is that the people who replaced them do not speak English very well. Their English is a hell of a lot better than my Spanish, but that's not saying much. They were already fixtures in the room, they're not brand new caretakers. It's also worth noting that I am in the minority here. This area is heavily Hispanic, culturally and functionally. Pretty much all of the other parents I have bumped into speak Spanish fluently. It doesn't bother me, it's just something I have to navigate.
Which brings me to the actual issue. If this were just about routine day to day care, whatever. But we're in sort of a unique situation, and one that is changing soon. My son was diagnosed with dysphagia at 4.5m old and because of that he has been on thickened milk and not allowed to have solids at daycare. He's been in feeding therapy and everything has been going very well, he has a swallow study coming up in a few weeks which we all anticipate him passing. So at that point everything would change - he would be allowed to have solids at daycare and we would also be looking to transition him off bottles and onto a straw cup. This is something that would require more in-depth conversations with his teachers on a regular basis which is way beyond either of our abilities without a common language.
I am going to set up some time with the director to talk through this but want to get a sense of what I should expect and what would be reasonable. Like should the director (who is bilingual) join us so we can talk about things together? Would that be weird, is that too much to ask? The other option, which I'm not into, would be to ask about potentially moving my son to another infant room where I know they have a fluent English speaker as a lead. I don't like that idea because, even though the lead and co-lead left, their replacements were teachers who were already regularly in the room and they are very sweet. I think it would be a really abrupt change, not only because it's a new room but because he wouldn't be fed the same way etc. Plus they kinda have a weird structure for when kids move on to the next rooms and he'd probably only be in the new room for a few months before moving again.
Any advice is welcome. I want what's best for my son and the only issue is the language barrier, which is a me problem, but also not one I can just turn around overnight. I just want to go into things making sure I'm as respectful as possible and not being unrealistic.
Posted Aug 4, 2026, 7:28 PM UTC