From Engleutsch and Germlish to "one parent, one language"

When Andrea got pregnant in spring 1999, we learned that the best idea for a multilingual family is "one parent, one language": each parent speaks their language with the children. Andrea then lived in France, and we spoke Engleutsch and Germlish with some French words, so we tried to clean up our speech habits. The first rule was "finish sentences in the language you start them in"; the second the same with statements; the third with conversations. It took at least two weeks for each step to become the new habit. By the time our son Miles was born, we could each speak our own language with him without the mixing. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 24 October)