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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Does anyone else have a mumbling teenage boy?

170 replies

inthesticks · 26/05/2011 15:45

Just a rant really.
DS1 has a very deep voice but speaks quietly (unless he's shouting at the x box).

We've had all those converstions about speaking clearly to adults and looking people in the eye, but I can't hear a word he says. Admittedly my hearing isn't perfect but he knows that.

Now he has a cold and so his voice has gone down several octaves and is even quieter.
I feel like I need an eartrumpet.
Or semaphore.
Or sign language.

OP posts:

meemu28 · 01/06/2011 23:41

He especially loves it when I confiscate his android phone.......OMG.... how did we ever exist before the internet?

bellavita · 02/06/2011 07:28

DS1 must have said yeahinaminute a thousand times this week... and if he says do I have to? one more time, I swear I will not be responsible for my actions

PacificDogwood · 02/06/2011 10:56

It's "inasec" here - said 2 Mio time/day by DS2 - he is 7 (not 17, seven).
Is it too late to change my mind about having him??

superjobeespecs · 02/06/2011 11:28

my wee girl is 6 and now and again i'll say to her to shush, think what she's trying to say and start again this annoys her but because she's usually so well spoken and clear it bugs me when she dawdles round saying something or mutters lol knowing my luck she'll be a nightmare teen like i was but hey ho least i know in advance haha

liddylou · 12/01/2012 20:15

OMG I have the worst mumbler in the world. I even went for a hearing test as I had been told it was "just you mum" so often.
I was thrilled to be told my hearing is perfect but when I imparted the news I was still told it must be my fault as I clearly don't listen!!! aaaaaargh!
One good thing is thought that when his friends are round they speak beautifully and are charming despite their own mothers complaining of mumbling and my son is apparently clear as a bell when speaking to his friends parents.
I have concluded that its something they save up to torture us with. Wah!

TotallyLaLa · 13/01/2012 11:13

I am crying with laughter as I read these posts.

My DD (14) is a huge mumbler - to the stage we just call her mumbles now Only time she speaks properly is when she wants money/a lift/a night out/borrow my stuff blah blah blah

DS1 (16) tends not to mumble too much (only when calling DD names - at least I think that's what it is - can't understand him tbh)

They all grow out of it but so frustrating.

BackforGood · 13/01/2012 11:24

I know it's an old thread, but must have missed it the first time round. It's been a very funny read this morning though - thanks for reviving

TotallyLaLa · 13/01/2012 12:09

Agree with you Back

My DS1 text me last night saying "wots for dinna init"

What was that about??? Didn't bother replying so when he came in (on time - yay :) ) I told him I though he'd texted one of his mates by mistake! He told me to "chill blud"

BackforGood · 13/01/2012 12:45

My dcs can't get their heads round the fact I not only spell words correctly, but I also punctuate texts

TotallyLaLa · 13/01/2012 12:56

lolol back

Kids eh? ...... Who'd have 'em!!! :o

4manslave · 12/06/2012 21:11

Ridiculously late to this thread but it has really just helped. My DS1 mumbles and I do as everyone else does, 'Pardon'? 'Speak louder' 'Enunciate'. Little did I know however that he has taken every 'Pardon' as a personal slight and tonight has had a very tearful melt down!! Felt terribly guilty although clarified that he does Infact mumble and so do many young people (DS1 is 17). Quick Google search and your feel better thread. It reassured him and made me lol (sorry, had to slip that in there). I will however now check, just incase anyone should read this, the tears, 17 year old boy, should I worry??????

sugarice · 13/06/2012 10:01

Yes a 14 year old deep voiced mumbler in this house too. His most commonly used sentence is it doesn't matter.

Shewal · 14/06/2012 08:08

I have a 13 year old mumbler ("Try English," is what I say to him) and a 16 year old talker ("and it was, like, so annoying") except when she meets anyone new then it's snooty down the nose disapproving Paddington stares. They both think it's their right to have top of the range mobile phones, think ironing is for no life's like me and wouldn't know one end of a dish cloth (substitute toothbrush, facecloth, bar of soap) from the other. Lying about anything seems to come naturally, i don't even think they know they're doing it half the time! And I'm just the stepmother, even though, unusually, they do live with us. I never thought I'd get to 58 years old and be living with all this teenage angst!!!!

deb9 · 16/06/2012 18:13

co.mpletely normal!! it doesnt last forever thankfully

Prosperosbored · 19/06/2012 21:17

I want to thank you all for this thread, I've been crying with laughter. What worries me is that my 17 yr old DD [near18] is mumbling and has given up the art of anunciation at a rather late stage, is it nerves rather than hormones at this stage we wonder? maybe just a slow developer. 'it doesn't matter,' is the only thing that we can ever understand from the conversations after three or four attempts. her grandparents have all given up totally trying to converse on the phone now too. Thankfully we don't get the 'chav speak,' something to be grateful for! I'm feeling really concerned about this, with her age.

GilbGeekette · 21/06/2012 14:51

Crying with laughter (literally wiping away the tears here) too. Thank you SO much for putting all the 'likes' into perspective. Now if I could only persuade dd to differentiate between people she knows from school, people (she doesn't know) who are in bands, and people (she doesn't know) in rubbish shows on tv so I didn't have to keep asking her who Alex, or Jaz or whoever is, life would be grand. Mind you, then she wouldn't be able to sigh as much...

weaselm4 · 21/06/2012 14:55

I think it's sweet. Reminds me of my little brother at that age (he's now a non-mumbling lovely 35 year old).

I will of course feel differently when it's DS (6) doing it in a few year's time...

Parttimeslave · 27/06/2012 13:45

It not just the mumbling with our ds2 (17 yr old).......for us, it's the Mark Wright/Frank Butcher lingo that drives myself and dh absolutely mad. He didn't talk like bloody Dick Van Dyke on steroids 2 years ago, so what's going on? TOWIE has a lot to answer to in our house! No offense to any Essex mums btw!

Anyone else got this problem?

NJmuddy · 01/09/2012 16:59

They talk and write like that in school, then get nasty when the teacher can't hear their gibberish or read their chickenscratch.

alistron1 · 01/09/2012 20:57

The other day I thought my DS1 (13 with newly broken voice) had, out I'd the blue, called me an old git. He was telling me that he needed a new PE kit and couldn't understand why I shouted 'how dare you!'

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