Kid who can't stop singing/talking/making noise
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Anonymous
| HELP! My fifth-grader has always been loud. He was a reflux baby so howled a lot. Never great at managing his emotions, so a minor frustration or disappointment often provokes some kind of drama. When he wakes up in the morning he'll sometimes start talking to himself, loudly enough to wake up the rest of us. Granted, our house is not huge, but still. Even if he's sitting playing video games or watching TV, he will sing/talk/rap or really just mutter gibberish almost nonstop. (Since the summer, it's been Old House Road on almost constant repeat.) It drives all the rest of us CRAZY but it's almost like he can't help himself. I wind up putting on headphones and listening to music just to hear myself think, but it's hugely distracting and frankly I can still sometimes hear him. He's a sweet, sensitive kid, and after multiple reminders to stop talking/singing, it often escalates into shouting. The chatter is the one thing that can make my older son, who's like the chill-est teenager in the world, lose his sh*t. I get it -- I feel like I'm losing my mind when I'm at home with him. He is otherwise a good quirky kid with plenty of friends, does well in school and has hobbies (sports) that he loves. This doesn't seem to be a problem at school. But he's almost 11yo and he should be able to manage himself better than this. OTOH I feel like an ogre with unrealistic expectations about noise volume with a younger kid in the house. Advice, please.... |
Anonymous
| “Inside voice please”. |
Anonymous
That IS his inside voice so that wouldn’t help. |
Anonymous
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My 14 year old is like that - he is such a talker, an extrovert and makes noise, is easily frustrated -all of that.
For the most part, we just accept him how he is. We do put limits and sometimes when I need a bit of quiet, I send him to another room so I don't have to hear it. He happens to be at a friends right now and my DH just remarked how silent our house is. (or other DC is much more quiet and introverted). |
Anonymous
| You just described my 6 yo. I was hoping he would grow out of this, but doesn’t sound like it! |
Anonymous
Sorry but I’m laughing thinking of your boy singing old town Road while playing video games and pissing everyone off. 
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Anonymous
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Can’t nobody tell
Me Nuthing They caint tell me nothing |
Anonymous
Well something has to exist between the current level and silence. If he’s at a 10, ask him to take it to a five. Also, have his hearing checked. |
Anonymous
| One of my DDs is like that. We used to hear her chattering away and singing songs to her stuffed animals over the baby monitor and she never grew out of it. Now as a tween, we put her in acting, voice lessons and choir so all of the constant talking and singing would be channeled to a good purpose. Seems to be helping so far. She still needs reminders about what’s appropriate and considerate to others but I’m hopeful she’ll improve enough that her college roommate won’t want to smother her in her sleep someday. |
Anonymous
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If he's capable of managing it at school, he needs to manage it at home too. Anything above conversational tone is not acceptable in general. If a conversational level of jibber-jabber is bothering others, he needs to go to another room to jibber-jabber. By not working with him to control these habits, you are setting him up for a lifetime of failure in other living situations.
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Anonymous
| He might have ADHD. |
Anonymous
That was my first thought too. |
Anonymous
| My dh has this and it’s adhd. He talks to himself as he works, taps his leg up and down and twirls pens. |
Anonymous
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Thanks all, esp for letting me know he's not the only kid in the world like this. I've wondered about trying to channel the singing. But on music days in school, he sometimes comes home singing nonstop (most recently was Chattanooga Choo-Choo) and I'm not sure that's an improvement. Btw he was also mashing up Chattanooga Choo Choo and OTR, it's not an improvement over either unfortunately.
Just to be clear, volume is an issue but it's also just the persistence of his seeming need to be speaking/singing. |
Anonymous
+1 |