The word toddler refers to the child who has not yet joined the school system. In this sense, a toddler is approximately 6 years old at most. In a second sense, a toddler is a naive person.
Different ways of referring to children in countries where Spanish is spoken
The word boy or girl has many synonyms in Spanish and each one of them brings a unique nuance. In the case of toddlers, it refers to the fact that the child has not yet been integrated into the educational system. The term baby refers to the newborn or child who is a few months old. If the child has already passed the baby stage, baby or baby is usually used. For gypsies, a child is a churumbel.
In Galicia the term raptor is very common. In Latin America there is also a great variety of words: cuate, chavo, pibe, chamaco or chamaquito. The list could continue with a whole series of affectionate names that we use to refer to children: brat, pelao, chubby, doll, etc.
Kindergarten
If we think about childhood, adolescence and early youth, we can see that in each stage there is a specific educational center: the toddler attends a nursery school, the child attends a school, the adolescent at a high school and, finally, the university goes to to the University. This journey goes from a child who is a few months old to approximately 18 years of age.
Focusing on the term nursery school, the great diversity of synonyms is striking
The word kindergarten is not commonly used in official educational terminology and others such as preschool, kindergarten, kindergarten or nursery school are used.
The term nursery has fallen into disuse, probably because it has a negative connotation and is politically incorrect (literally a nursery is the place where children are kept and this idea does not conform to current pedagogical approaches).
In recent years, another name has spread, kindergarten (it is a German word that is also used in English and that literally means "garden for children").
"Don't be a toddler"
If we hear the words "don't be a toddler" it is very likely that they do not refer to a child but to an adult. Thus, when a person is naive and innocent, it is said that he is a toddler. In this sense, it must be remembered that one of the characteristic features of children is precisely their innocence. Thus, the innocence of some people poses a certain risk, since they can easily be deceived or manipulated.
Photos: Fotolia - famveldman / pingpao
