4 year old does not stop talking

[inmyslippers]

Sometimes I put him to bed really early cause I just can't take anymore. Thankfully he can't tell the time yet. But from the moment he gets up, until he talks himself to sleep he does not stop. Any words of advice?

And there’s me wishing my child would talk

Yes, video him you'll miss it when he stops.

Until then, I found knowing there was a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge helped enormously!!!

Finding the energy to be surprised/interested/full of praise is bloody exhausting. Is he at school yet? If not, that's something to look forward to, they mostly come home shattered and all talked out!! .

I get you OP. My DD hasn't stopped talking since she was a year old! Doesn't mean we love them any less, but it genuinely is draining sometimes.

Noo due to start in September. He was late talking so I think he's making up for lost time.

I'm with you, non stop until bedtime.

Everything requires a response and if it's not general chit chat/questions then it's singing (which I am required to partake in). I know I'll miss it when he's a teenager.

I have one of these. I've learned to converse with her on autopilot whilst doing / thinking about other things on occasion.

I've taught a few like that!
You can't change his personality but maybe you should encourage him into football commentating.

Don't worry,in about 10 years he'll just grunt and look offended when you speak you him

Does he go to pre-school? If not - claim your free hours! Will give you a break even if it's not every day, and he gets his words out on other people

Wait until he gets older and enthrals you with three hour monologues about Minecraft.

Seriously though, it is annoying. I don’t have one of my own yet but I’m a nanny and I deal with this a lot. So I’m sort of having to be genuinely interested in every single they say because, it is my job. I spend most of my day listening to fantasy future plans about what kind of dog they might have. What it will eat. What it will look like. It goes on all day. They repeat it all again the next day, as if I’ve never heard of before.

In the holidays I put a timer on for half an hour where they could talk as much as they wanted, and I would listen and respond, then I get half an hour of quiet. It worked well.

We introduced quiet time when she dropped her afternoon nap at around 2.5 yrs. She could watch kids tv, a video in her room (yes video, it was a few years ago 😁), play quietly with anything. Because mummy has/wants do x y z. And it was when baby dd2 would nap. It gave me 30 minutes to usually just have a whole mug of coffee before it went cold. Don't get me wrong, I listened to everything she wanted & needed to tell me all day, every day. But I needed a break.
And when 30 minutes was up I let her know she could join me again. A lot of the time she still wanted to finish the video/kids programme etc, but it was up to her. She can still use 100 words when 10 would do, but over the years it does improve.

In lockdown, I started phoning distant retired relatives and putting my 4yo on to them for twenty minutes when I couldn’t take any more chat

Mine was like this. He’s nine and mostly grunts. His four year old sibling talks ENDLESSLY. All day.

Embrace it. My DD is like this and I love chatting with her. My 3yo DS is non verbal and it breaks my heart I might never heard his voice.

Yes, teaching them quiet time is a good shout. When they don’t have a nap anymore it’s really good for them to be able to chill out quietly with a book or an audio story for a bit and just enjoy being quiet.

My DC1 is like this. It’s like he has gills - he just doesn’t pause for breath. We have just had an outdoor meet-up with family and driven the best part of two hours each way. I swear to God he only stopped talking a) when I told him I needed to concentrate and b) for the last half hour when he had the tablet because he was bored. I think the conversation was more tiring than the driving, bless him!

Part of me loves it because he’s my little mate now. Part of me wishes he would just shush for five minutes. Part of me cannot wait to see how he copes with DC2 talking once he has something to say beyond “teeth!”. Truth be told, I do zone out for some of it or throw the questions back at him, especially when he starts asking stuff I know he knows the answer to...

In lockdown, I started phoning distant retired relatives and putting my 4yo on to them for twenty minutes when I couldn’t take any more chat

^^ that's funny 🤣

Mines 8 now, he still never stops, it all requires a answer and to be repeated back and forth worded in several ways..... it is exhausting.

Like a constant stream of his every spacious thought. Literally takes a breath when he wakes up and that's it till bedtime. As I walk downstairs he is still at it. We walk miles, I can watch him wandering along 100 feet behind, talking all the time.

How do you respond?

My ds is 7. Been wobblegobbing since he was 18 months old. We have ponies, I sent him down the field this morning to 'play shows' just to give my ears a break.

Pony looked exhausted coming back up .

@PinkCookie11

And there’s me wishing my child would talk

Wow, the guilt tripper got in quick there.

OP I have one of each. One DC has a disability and can't talk. One never ever stops talking. I get it, it's lovely to chat to them but it's also exhausting, especially when it's talking for the sake of it so it's just like word vomit.
Can you try telling them you are going to do a specific job or chore and they need to go and entertain themselves for a while? Surely they can't be chatting at you if they're in another room.

@HighlandCowbag

My ds is 7. Been wobblegobbing since he was 18 months old. We have ponies, I sent him down the field this morning to 'play shows' just to give my ears a break.

Pony looked exhausted coming back up .

Wobblegobbing is the best description I have ever heard, I am using that in future!

I was wishing for my child to speak

He didn’t say a word until he was 3,
He’s 4 and now won’t stop!

I feel quite guilty at feeling exhausted by it

Surely they can't be chatting at you if they're in another room.

🤣🤣🤣 you'd think so. He carries on regardless. Alternated between play monologues and singing.

My child turned two in January. Whilst he can say a few words, he's not yet talking as well as other kids. It's reassuring that a lot of the responses are of parents with children who were late talkers. I've been driving myself insane wondering why he only has a few words in his vocabulary even though he does speak a lot, just not words yet.
Since I've had my son though, I do understand the true meaning of the phrase silence is golden.

Same here yap yap yap for hours on end 🤣 its like she doesn't pause to take a breath. She'll ask me a question and I'll start my reply but she just carries on talking 🤣 ive now also got newborn twins so I definitely won't be able to get a word in edgeways for many years to come!