constant interrupting!

So Ivy is a total chatterbox. She can keep up a running monologue all day. DH & I joke that she should have a Twitter account so that she can keep EVERYONE informed about EVERY single thought that pops into her head.

But she's getting more domineering as she gets older. Andrew has always been the quieter one, but I know she's making it worse because she interrupts, talks over him, and/or answers questions for him. I try really hard to make space for him to talk, but she's making it harder and harder. It's also getting harder to have a conversation with DH (and by "conversation" I mean even things like "what veggie did they have for lunch? what should we make for dinner?") because she's always talking over us and interrupting.

Everything I've said to her to try to get her to let other people talk (please wait, let x talk, please be quiet and listen for a minute, I'm trying to talk to x, it's x's turn to talk) comes back to bite me in the rear - she just says the same things back to me ("Let Ivy talk! It's my turn to talk! Wait, wait, wait! Listen, I have something important to tell you!" etc). Not in a bratty back-talky way, she just has no clue that she's not the center of the universe.

Anyone with a motormouth, how do you handle this?

 

We should just put Ana and Ivy into a room together and see what happens! :laughing: Ana totally does this and it drives me NUTS! When she talks over Meara, I put my hand up and say "Let Meara finish please." If she doesn't stop at that point I tell her to go into another room. When she interrupts DH and me, she gets a stern warning that you don't interrupt when mommy and daddy are talking. Its a constant battle. The one time she isn't a motor-mouth is in the car. She totally zones out, but then of course Meara takes the opportunity to get all her stories out. I'll be interested to see what other people say about this... even our new pedi commented on it and cheered when Meara got to answer a question.

 

Ivy, Ana, and Lauren. The walls would need earplugs!! :laughing:

I'm with Leighann, it is a constant battle. I am always telling her to please wait her turn and whatnot. It does bite me in the butt too but she is also getting it, so I know it's working.

Emma has started to sprout the motormouth too so it's been a challenge trying to figure out who to listen to first. :wacko:

 

Can I throw a boy into the mix? Ivy, Ana, Lauren, & my Aiden?

My mom says it's payback because I never stopped talking. Aiden literally talks from the second he wakes until he falls asleep. He always talks over Conner & interrupts.

We are doing everything you ladies have mentioned. We've even tried "The Quiet Game", but the boys don't seem to understand that yet .

Just yesterday, I told him to wait while I was trying to discuss a schedule issue with DH. He stopped talking momentarily, then yelled out, "BUT HEY, HEY, I'm talking to you! Listen to ME! I'm talking and it's IMPORTANT! HELLLLLO????"

How can you not laugh? When we finally let him speak he said that he wanted the yellow cup with dinner. Yes, dear, that WAS so important to interrupt our conversation for......

 

I tell mine that "my ears are tired and need a break".......so basically STOP TALKING!!!!!


I also redirect, remind, ask him to leave the room, tell him to take turns, etc.

 

My Sarah is a HUGE talker. She and Allison has been constantly interrupting me when I'm talking to other adults. I sat them down and talked to them about interrupting adults when they talk and interrupting each other. For the last two weeks we have really been working on not interrupting people and letting each other have a turn. They have been doing really well with it, but it's constant reminders.

 

Last year I read a great book for teachers called "Black Ants and Buddhists," (but have forgotten the author), who has a lot of English language learners in her class. Because it takes so much longer to formulate something to say, then actually say it when you're trying to do it in another language, and native English speakers were constantly interrupting, she started talking to her class about "stepping on each other's words." At the time, I was having the same issue you are having, so I started telling Andrew, "You're stepping on Kaitlyn's words. Please stop stepping on her words." There was something about that phrase that seemed to make them understand that someone else was being impacted by their constant chatter, and it generally has been pretty effective for us.

 

Love this!

 

Love this!

 

Amy is like that, and if it helps, it's gotten a TINY bit better since about age 4. Before that, I think -- as you said -- she just couldn't see that she wasn't the center of the universe. At most, if Sarah was already speaking and Amy interrupted her, I would say "Amy! Sarah's talking!" and then she would sometimes let Sarah talk. But she would also often pitch a huge fit that "I forgot what I was going to say!!!!" And that didn't help at all with the fact that Sarah can't even BEGIN talking most of the time, because Amy is already (always) speaking.

I think this issue is one of those things (similar to "How do I get my 12-month-old to stop climbing on the couch?") where you just have to respond the same way approximately 25,326 times and eventually it sinks in. There are no quick results. But hopefully by the time she's 8, she'll be able to let someone else express a complete thought without interrupting.

They have started raising their hands sometimes, which helps a little. I think they learned that partly at school (can you imagine 24 four-year-olds all trying to talk? :escape: ) and partly from the LeapFrog "Ready for School" DVD. I'm also going to try the "stepping on Sarah's words" thing.

 

Oooh I like "stepping on words". The phrase, not the action.

Yes, of course it's Alice that is keeping Royce from talking. Thankfully she doesn't interrupt us yet.

 

Well, we had great progress the other night. DH and I were trying to discuss something, and after being quiet a bit, Ivy interrupted: "Mommy, I have to tell you something! I'm being quiet and not interrupting you and Daddy!" :crazy:

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Oh, if only we could get all our little chatterboxes together. Though with all of them talking at the same time, we might get written up for disturbing the peace.

Love the "stepping on words" idea. I'll have to try that.

 

I try to get dd to put her hand on my arm when I'm talking & she wants to say something. Then when she does do it, I make a big deal over it.