A Rant about the Chatty

Shane does not shut up.

He talks to himself, he talks to people and at people whether they are listening or not. Then he hums and beat-boxes when he's not talking.

Shane's rotated through a few catch-phrases. The ones that bother me know are, "There's something I've got to say...," "There's something I've got to ask you...," and "There's something I've got to tell you."

Just say it.

And that's what I tell Shane, "Just say it. Cut out the preface."

Cut out the unnecessary words, kid! Your happiness is not in padding your word count!

I'm used to naturally balancing out kids with my teaching. When the kids are shy, I'm talkative to draw them out. When they're low-energy, I'm high. When they're agitated, I'm calm.

With Shane, I'm silent.

At least half the time! He's kind of driving me bonkers.

Shane's acquired some of the traits of a parrot. You tell him something, and then he says, "I have an idea.." and repeats what was said.

Which also drives me bonkers.

Then, Shane likes to lecture. Does he get that from me? It's like he's opposed to asking questions. He talks about things like he's an expert and it drives Carrie bonkers. He'll ask you something. You'll reply, and then the little professor will start espousing his research!

Bonkers to the third!

And, as I've mentioned, Shane doesn't know when to quit with chatting.

We were having a real family conversation in the car on the way up. Suddenly, Shane veered way off topic. "We weren't talking about Pokemon a second ago," I said.

"I was thinking about what I wanted to say and then I said it!"

Have you heard of listening, kid? I keep telling you to listen..., but I guess you didn't listen to the admonition.

We had to shut him down a few times as he wanted to endlessly repeat Pokemon stats.

Shane got in trouble on the way home for not stopping talking when we crossed a motorcycle accident.

EMTs and police were all over the scene. Carrie was holding her breath and Shane started to try and describe exactly what had happened as if he'd seen it. "Well, the car must have hit the motorcycle like this and.....then..."

He wasn't getting subtle or even overt clues. I eventually had to raise my voice to get him to stop talking about it. "Do you realize someone was badly hurt or may have even died?" We said a family prayer after that.

On the bright side, Shane doesn't seem to have trouble making friends or expanding his vocabulary. If he learns to ask questions and listen, he's going to be quite the conversationalist.