My (dangerous) little chatterbox
October 15, 2009 by Shannon
“Your son speaks so well.”
“He talks a lot, doesn’t he?”
“Well, aren’t you a happy little boy so early in the morning?”
I heard these three comments at the grocery store this week, while Kellan was either drumming and singing on the shopping cart or asking me a bazillion questions about anything and everything around him. I frequently hear this type of thing whenever Kellan and I are out, and I often want to respond — you have no idea. My boy talks constantly.
Let me be clear — I am thankful Kellan has such wonderful verbal skills, even if he uses them to explain why he really doesn’t have to stop playing and put away his toys. But I’m starting to wonder if all this gabbing is a little dangerous.
Here’s the thing. I find that Kellan talks the most while we’re in the car. For example:
“Why do we have to stop at stoplights, Mommy? Why are they putting a roof on that house? Where is daddy? Can I have a snack? I’m thirsty! I want it louder! (Meaning, the music in the car.) No! I want U2! What is Grandma Tina doing? Is she at home? Why does she work? Why all those kids running in circles? Why they spinning? Why kids don’t drive cars? But mans and ladies drive cars. I want my guitar! No! I dropped my guitar! I want it! I want it! I want it!“
And since I’ve always talked to him a LOT since he was a baby, I think he’s come to expect that we should talk. All…the…time. And if I don’t respond? He just repeats himself over and over again, which gets really, really, really distracting when you’re trying to operate a motor vehicle. And if I’m trying to navigate to somewhere I’ve never been before? Forget it — I’m almost guaranteed to get lost because I can’t concentrate. It’s come to a point where I’m not really sure what to do. I have tried to ignore him, which only makes me more frazzled because he just speaks more loudly. I’ve tried drowning him out with music, which sometimes works, but that’s almost as distracting as a constant game of 20 Questions. And believe me, I’ve tried explaining why he needs to be quiet and play with toys while Mommy is driving. That works for about 60 seconds, and the chatting starts up again.
I know things could be worse. I only have one kid in my car, and I’m sure the noise level gets exponentially louder with the addition of one or two more. Still. What should I do? Give him more toys to play with? Turn up the music even louder? Is there any solution to silencing my little chatterbox?
Comments (7)
I have no solutions for you except when you get in the car make sure he’s sleepy! Lately when he’s gotten on the phone with me he chats and chats and then says…”and ummmmm” and then takes off again telling me a new story. It’s pretty darn cute!!! He loves to talk! And play the drums….and play one of his guitars….and sing into his microphone! He’s a very social young man! Smart too!
you really can’t silence a chatterbox. however, one of my children asks questions he already knows the answer to just to have sound coming out of his mouth. and i came up with a fool-proof response for him. when he asks something that makes my eyes roll in the back of my head, like, “mom, why why do i have to brush my teeth?” I turn the question back on him–”son, why do you have to brush your teeth?” it makes him do the thinking for a minute, and usually silences the questions (that he has already asked me a hundred times this week).
We’ve started explaining to Amelia that there are times when she can’t talk anymore and why. Sometimes it actually works!
Haha! What a sweetie your little boy is… My oldest son talks A LOT, too! While it is cute most of the time, it can get annoying… especially when they are asking a billion ‘why’ questions… questions I usually don’t have the answers for!
Hee…hee…I’ll have to chat with him next time we talk (which I hope will be very soon!). He is such an outgoing cutie!
My “favorite” was when Tommy asked me a question while driving and I TRIED to ignore it. The response from the backseat; “You know, Mommy. You CAN talk while you’re driving.” It is very difficult to explain the need for SOME quiet in the car!! And, yes, adding another body to the backseat is sometimes more interest. Like when a shoe hits the back of your head at a stoplight. “WHO THROWS A SHOE? Honestly!” I feel for you!
I think they invented in car DVD players for this sort of thing. I don’t advocate a lot of TV, but you can’t get much TV on a short car trip.