Pēpi steps: Two mothers on creating taonga with te reo Māori
Essays
Celebrating a new series of the beloved Reo Pēpi bilingual board books, we have essays from Kitty Brown (Ngāi Tahu) who creates the books with her cousin Kirsten Parkinson, and Helen Steemson, a Pākehā mum determined to share te reo with her Māori son.
Kitty Brown
Recently, my two-year-old spoke her first words in te reo Māori. I was elated. However, not long afterward her cognitive development surpassed my reo skills. My struggle to keep up with her need for language means she now defaults to English first, most of the time, like me. It brings tears to my eyes sometimes when I say “Watch out bub!” and then, “Ata haere e kō!”