ABSTRACT
More and more parents are making an explicit decision to raise their children as bilinguals. Bilingual children consistently have to monitor a situation, select a language to use, and repress the language not needed. The bilingual advantage relates to observations that bilingual children are faster than monolinguals on these and other tasks. Bilinguals are more effective at blocking unnecessary information. Bilingual children may come from homes with a higher family income, and with higher levels of family education. Such criticisms are supported by research which finds no advantage for bilinguals on similar types of tasks. Bilingual children may have a better understanding of things about language, such as the fact that it is mostly random how labels are attached to objects. Bilingualism is a long journey, which will often require some dedication and hard work. Active bilingualism may best be achieved when the minority language is the only one spoken at home.
