I even remember my sister cried and didn’t want to go to kindergarten at all. "Nishto ne razbiram tam, Mamo"[1] I would remember her saying in the first weeks. Fortunately, this phase quickly passed, and soon she started to communicate with her kindergarten friends in German. And so did I.
I asked myself, was it correct of my parents to teach us first Bulgarian and then to "throw us" into the deep end? Is it not confusing for the linguistic development of a child?
Well, nowadays, the answer for me is clearly, yes! Speaking to your child in your native language, or the language you are most comfortable with, does wonders for children's language development and acquisition, regardless of what language is being spoken. When parents and children share conversations in their native language, they experience greater levels of closeness and engagement with each other. Parents are able to provide richer vocabulary and descriptions in their speech, giving children more tools to describe and relate to the world around them. This knowledge provides children with a great foundation for later English learning.
Later, when I have kids, I am definitely going to raise them like my parents did: bilingual.
[1] “I don’t understand anything there, mom” in Bulgarian