Incessant chatter from 3 yo ds...

[Sarimillie]

...charming most of the time, but gets wearying! Is it OK to ask him (nicely) to keep it down sometimes? - I do, obviously, but wondered if there's a good developmental reason not to...

[TheArmadillo]

god knows but the other night I did ask ds to be quiet for a bit please. I was desperate.

It's all day every day. Never stops.

[Sarimillie]

Eeek. Thanks for the moral support, tho! And Waswondering,funnily enough when he's five he will have a 2yo sister, too; oh joy.

[Hassled]

I think it's absolutely fine to say "I need you to be quiet for a few minutes because my ears can't do any more listening" or something like that (I actually used to tell my DCs that if they didn't stop talking my head would explode - not a parenting technique that shoudl be passed on, I feel ). Learning when to be quiet and that sometimes they need to be quiet is all part of learning social skills and considering other people - very important.

[Sarimillie]

Hassled, that's brilliant; I will actually be doing some good parenting while saving my sanity. Thanks!

[tribpot]

I remember my mum on car journeys handing me a watch and asking me if I could stop talking until the second hand had been all the way round (i.e. 60 seconds). What a bloody nightmare I must have been!

My ds only does "are we there yet?" cos he's seen it on Shrek, still annoying - I just laugh and join in and ask him if we're there yet as it if was all juuuust a lovely game and not virtual torture ...

[puppydavies]

heh the eternal "why does my 3 year old have no internal monologue?" problem

from about that age i asked dd1 if she could try telling her stories to herself in her head rather than out loud. obviously, i'm assuming here we're talking the standard running commentry, rather than they're actually trying to tell/ask you something. she's pretty good at this now (when asked) but she is 5 1/2 so keep practicing with the patience (failing that i find an ipod can help drown them out!).

[thatsnotmymonster]

oh my 3.5yo ds DOES have a 2yo sister (and a 6mo sister)- I think I should be wearing ear defenders for ligitimate health and safety reasons.

[thatsnotmymonster]

No my ds is trying to tell/ask me something ALL the time

[ataraxis]

SNAP! My 3yo DS talks so much that sometimes at 9pm when he still hasn't gone to sleep, he comes out with 'my name is...' just for something to say .

But also I sympathise, it is charming to others, sometimes very funny but often very very tiring. I am hoping that his 6 week old sister will soon become the focus of his chatter rather than me .

[carocaro]

my DS is 6 and talks all day long, never quiet. Get used to it! I put the oven timer on for 10 mins and tell him he is not allowed to make a noise, it works wonders, harder when younger. have DS2 aged 21 months, just started to babble all day long!

[LurkerOfTheUniverse]

my dd, also 6, is like this & has been since she could talk (18 months)

sorry

[ActingNormal]

My DD has been like this since 3 too and my DS although he doesn't talk as much as her, cries a lot, very loudly and shrieks when he is irritated - often. It is utter drivel, on and on from when she wakes up til when she falls asleep. It scrambles my brain and sometimes I do say "please can you not talk to me just for a few minutes while I do this and then I will come and talk to you when I'm ready" This seems to work if she thinks that I am going to listen to her, just not right now.

Thank you for posting because I feel really reassured when other people have to 'suffer' the same things as me! Otherwise I can't help wanting to whine "It's so unfair"!

[oneplusone]

This thread has made me laugh! You poor things! My DD was just the same as all yours, she hasn't changed, only she goes to school now so I get a break (well my ears get a break) from 9 til 3 and so I just about manage from 3 til bedtime with the non-stop talking.

[Jonut]

I'm afraid to say that it doesn't get any better either!! My DD1 is 7 and she literally doesn't ever stop!! It's unbelievable the amount of questions that she can think of to ask! Her uncle and his girlfriend took her for a day trip to Longleat (about a 2 and 1/2hr car journey) and they both ended up with a headache! It's a constant round of quickfire questions such as 'What's your favourite colour?', 'How old are you?', 'What's your lucky number?' even to me and OH even though she knows the answers perfectly well as she's asked us about 10 BILLION times before!! I think she just thoroughly enjoys talking!