When were you able to have a conversation with your child?

[Summermeadowflowers]

DS is 2 years and seven months. He has very good understanding and after a slowish start seems to have absolutely loads of words, and he can communicate his needs - often with the word no (so DS would you like scrambled egg - NO saambled egghs!) but he often just babbles random words when asked a question.

For example, a few weeks ago he was upset about going to nursery and I tried to talk to him about it but he just couldn’t. I realise he may not have known himself but I get nothing about his day other than a random child’s name from time to time. Or if he wakes upset he can’t tell me if it was a bad dream or whatever?

I am not necessarily‘expecting’ him to be able to - just wondering when we’ll be able to talk to one another without a series of commands from him to me

It really depends, I would say my ds2 who is similar age to your I can have a conversation with but more basic than my ds1 who is 5. My ds1 now can't remember what he has had for lunch and will tell me he didn't play with anyone then I will hear from teachers etc that he was playing with someone. So the answer is no idea but it depends on lots of factors. I also would say it's not specifically age related, ds2 talks way more than ds1 did at the same age.

It will vary massively, with my current smallest one, from before she was two. She's 2yrs 8months and you can have a full conversation with her.

From about 2 but she was an early talker. My second will be later I think though.

Mine could, but they are both girls, who tend to be a bit ahead of boys at this age.

My second child possibly saved her own life from conversations we had at a similar age. Me: 'you look a bit sad, are you ok sweetheart' toddler: 'I feel a bit poorly' me: 'how do you feel poorly' toddler: 'my head is ouchy'. Mostly on the basis of those conversations she had a brain scan, and was blue lighted for emergency life saving surgery.

Less dramatically (thank goodness 😂) I remember this conversation with my eldest at 2 something (i can't remember what it was about, have x and y etc). Me: 'you can have x or y, those are your choices. Toddler: 'those are your choices mummy, I want z' me: 'you can't have z, but you can have x or y'. Toddler: 'my choice is z'

I knew other toddler's of that age which can only say single words. Most catch up in the end and it doesn't really make a difference except for in very rare unique circumstances.

I would say on experience once mine hit 3 they both because a lot more able to communicate.

they could do sentences and general chatter before, but actually having a proper conversation such as them telling me what they did that day came in probably just before 3.

On that basis and assuming nothing else going on development wise I’d probably guess you’re not far off OP.

my 3.5 year old is such a charter box, tells me about their dreams when they wake up and makes up their own songs unprompted. This has only really come about in the last 6-9 months.

I would say the average amongst my NCT group was circa 3 for too and fro conversation (although usually about limited topics, mostly guided by the child and not lasting all that long). There is a pretty wide range though. DS is 3 and I’d say his speech development has been generally ‘above’ expected and I still think he’d struggle to articulate why to anything vaguely conceptual. I don’t think he could tell me why he was upset to be left at nursery or why he had woken unexpectedly, for example. He can ask ‘why’ until the cows come home mind! He can tell me about his day at nursery to an extent, but I think that is more limited by short term memory than speech!

My current 3yo was 3 before he could hold an actual conversation. He could talk plenty before then, but took a while to be able to string it all together coherently and articulate his thoughts well.
His big brother on the other hand was chatting away by 2.
They're all different.

Both of mine were early talkers so chatting away very fluently by 2. One of their friends barely spoke at all until nearly 4. Now at 12 you wouldn’t spot a difference between them.

My middle DS was talking in sentences by 18 months and you could have a conversation with him well before he was 2.

His older and younger brothers were much later, closer to two and a half.

By the time they were four or five there was no difference at all between them.

I don’t think there is a normal age.

My middle one was a late talker and even then others couldn’t really understand what he said at 4. But, he caught up quickly and turned out to be the clever one, just having completed his masters at Uni.

Don’t try to compare him to others.

DD very young. We were having full conversations from as soon as she had the words (speech delay) but she certainly understood a lot more before she could reply.

DS.... not so much. Similar speech delay but a huge amount less understanding, and I'd say conversation was perhaps 4? His first really deep thought were at 6 (I was panicking that he was seriously mentally delayed). Now at 8 he wants to discuss nuclear proliferation and the nuclear deterrent, and whether more nukes means fewer warships. He's patiently waiting for me to finish playing on MN so I can google how long their half life is (autistic obsession). DD on the other hand is selectively mute and barely speaks.

A bit late doesn't affect their eventual skills, though I do know the fear!

mine’s the same age. She can generally tell me what’s wrong but it’s in pretty simple terms and ‘I’m scared’ gets used for a lot of things. I think it’s quite young for full conversations. My older one is one of the most articulate kids I’ve met and she was probably three before there were proper conversations tbh

From about 15 months. However, we talked to them a lot and they were all early talkers.