I've spoken to my daughter in a non-native language since she was a baby. Now she corrects my French.

The author has been speaking French to her daughter since she was a baby, even though it is not her native language.

Courtesy of Tara McAllister.

I hoped a bilingual upbringing would give my daughter an edge in life.

I didn't realize that a non-native language to me would end up becoming our primary language.

I've had my share of criticism over this decision, but it's working well for us so far.

My daughter was born three months before the COVID-19 restrictions began where we live.

Stuck at home with a new baby, I needed something to keep me busy, and I'm too mishap-prone for sourdough.

For a linguist like me, a language-related project seemed like just the thing.

I decided to dust off my French — which I spoke quite well in high school but hadn't used in decades — so I could speak it at home with my daughter.

What parent hasn't heard about the benefits of bilingualism for little brains? Six years later, my project has outstripped all my expectations.

We're lucky to have bilingual schools in our neighborhood.

Because my daughter hears French from her peers as well as from me, she speaks it just as fluently as the English she uses with my husband and the rest of our family.

My own ability to express myself in French grew little by little alongside hers.

Today, we rarely speak English when it's just the two of us.