Narrating everything she does

[Bloominsanta]

Does anyone else’s dc do this? Dd, 4 often pretends she is someone else and then will walk around saying things like ‘And then he jumped onto the sofa’ and then does it, or ‘She walked up and cuddled the dog’ (and strokes our dog) just wondering if this narrating of everything she does is typical? (Aside from being quite annoying 🙈)

Some kids do that, I found it cute.

@CheeseIsMyPatronus It is…I’m only joining about it being annoying, it was just a lot yesterday and I did wonder

I like the sound of your kid! She sounds genuinely funny.

My nearly 3 year old does it all the time! Mostly it's cute, sometimes I just need to let it fade into the background and wash over me to keep my sanity though 😅

Perhaps she’ll grow to be a famous author? 😂 Some kids do this, it’s cute. Enjoy the little things, they grow too quickly 😢

I did this as a child inside my head, for years 😂 my mum look alarmed when I explained to her at 6 that it was getting messy inside my head with all the thoughts AND the narrator narrating them…

not sure if this will be reassuring or not 😂

Love this!

My little sister used to do it when she was small. Annoyed the hell out of me as a child. But I’d probably think it was sweet now.

No, that does sound really annoying. 😬

Yes, my daughter did. She also had eccentric names for her toys and imaginary friends.

Sounds like she has a great imagination and is very dramatic! If not an author then maybe an actress :-D

Haha I love her! Not quite the same but my four year old DS likes to narrate stories to himself when he’s playing, it’s quite often The Gruffalo at the moment - he’s pretty much word for word now 😂

There was a thread on here a few weeks back of adults doing this . Seems very common when people are on their own doing a routine type task (seemed common theme to be when people were cooking). It’s referred to as “self explaining “ sometimes in psychology.

I guess the only difference is your DC hasn’t yet twigged that people will think she is odd if she does this in front of other people.as adults, despite it being so common we all tend to hide it from others for fear of being labelled a bit “mad” .

my Ex had psychotic illness. He heard voices. The cause of hearing voices is unknown but we do know that when under a scan “normally “ different parts of the brain are activated when someone is using their inner voice (eg voice in your head) versus an external noise. In someone hearing voices both parts of the brain are active- they literally hear their inner voice as an external noise. What is interesting is that my Ex’s voice were at their most benign “observational” - he had a couple of people just constantly observing what he was doing and making commentary on it . Often they’d kick off when he was doing a task like gardening, cooking. Clearly he was doing this self explaining but he couldn’t recognise it was his inner voice and he heard it as an external conversation from others in the room. His voices would then get more critical and then abusive the more stress and fear he felt.

so, for my Ex , what seems to be benign in a lot of people in terms of this self explaining, was turned into hallucinations because of this “cross wiring” of different parts of the brain in response to the stimulus

clearly as humans, this self explaining is common and must provide a certain function for the brain. Some research suggests it aids emotional control, others that it is helping work through problems, . Just like dreaming and it’s role in processing our emotions, feeling etc for events that have happened. We’re only just beginning to understand this with the use of therapies such as EMDR

at an extreme level of talking out loud and self narrating , there is maladaptive daydreaming - again threads on here in the past indicate it isn’t that unusual. In a lot of cases people keep it mostly under control . But very few people will seek help or acknowledge it except on anon MN posts

My kids don't but I do it. I'll catch myself doing it, so I'll be " right I'm going to do the dishes and then I'll run the kids bath, actually I'll go and get their pyjamas and things 1st..."
I'd probably find it cute in kids but I sometimes think I must drive dp mad when I do it when he's around.

Oh, to add …some research says this is way more common in introverts vs extroverts , which makes a lot of sense.

extroverts would just be telling YOU what they’re doing and talking with you 🤣🤣🤷🏼‍♀️

Dd did this but more like as if she had an audience watching and I wasn't ever sure if she was pretending to be on or something?

Eg 'now so we need to put the brush there and then quickly turn and find a hair bobble'

And it was exhausting because she NEVER stopped talking ever

My 12yo does it (and has done since he started talking...) so believe me I understand that it can be annoying! 😁

At that age, mine would announce what character she was that day (fireman Sam, the number taker, Harry Potter) and then narrate as if she were that character in the story through the day. It was undeniably cute!

@Bloominsanta sounds normal to me, my now nearly 12 year old used to do this when he was 3/4.

I had a whole world going on in my head as a small girl, mainly involving fairies. They all had names and I was desperate to be a fairy.
Oh the sweet innocence of childhood.
These days, aged over sixty, I narrate often about the tasks I am undertaking. Some would I was talking to myself, I call it thinking aloud🤣🤣

I heard an interview once with a very successful author - i wish I could remember who - who said that she always did this in childhood and thought everyone else did it too.

My 76 year old MIL commentates on everything she does

I knew a little girl who would also do that exact same thing at that age, it was very cute! She expected to be called by her chosen name throughout the day and didn't like it if you forgot and used her actual name!

She's grown up to be a confident young woman and acts and sings.

My dh narrates the dog...

Maybe she's practicing for her future life.