British mom says toddler developed an American accent thanks to watching Ms. Rachel

Language is fascinating, isn’t it? Especially when it comes to dialect and accents. While the American accent—or should we say huge heap of varied accentS—isn’t known for its charm, a good British accent is delightful to the ear. Especially coming from tiny humans.

One British “mum” shared via TikTok that her own little British human has developed an American accent along with her regular speaking voice—all thanks to one Ms. Rachel.

Has anybody else got a British — and I have to stress British — toddler who watches Ms. Rachel and, as they’ve started to speak, you realize that they’ve actually got an American accent?” she asks in the video, which has now gone wildly viral.

Her sweet little toddler speaks confidently and clearly, which is great! But the “issue” at hand is that she sounds like a tiny ex-pat studying preschool abroad. Which is to say, her child sounds distinctly American even though she is not.

When it comes to perfecting the American accent, Brits aren’t typically known for nailing it imo (all one has to do is turn on “The Gilded Age” and the over-emphasis on the hard “r” from British actors portraying Americans can actually make one’s American ears bleed). But this little girl? She’s KILLING IT.

There also seems to be a general consensus among the comments that Ms. Rachel influencing British toddlers in the accent department is “payback” for Peppa Pig making our little ones sound like members of the British gentry. (I won’t stand for any “Bluey” accent slander, as Bluey is a delightful show about delightful Australian dog children and Peppa Pig is…not that.)

A 2022 study discovered that children who are exposed to a variety of different accents at home have an easier time learning new words from other children who speak with unfamiliar accents.

“In contrast to previous studies, it is not bilingual children who necessarily perform better in vocabulary acquisition, but children who are exposed to diverse accents most frequently,” explains Assistant Prof. Dr. Adriana Hanulíková at the University of Freiburg.

While further research is needed to better understand this impact, it all basically boils down to whether a child is exposed to varying accents at home from different family members or from Ms. Rachel, Peppa, and Bluey—it’s all good stuff.