The Loud Self-Talker

Some kids play well with others. Some kids prefer to play with others whether or not they play well with them. And some kids prefer to play alone. In our crew we have a representative sample of these various personalities.

However, amongst the few boys who prefer to play alone (or at least enjoy playing alone) we have one outlier. Let’s see…how do I put this without exaggerating? The 6-year-old is without a doubt the loudest solo playing kid in the state of Texas.

The ability to occupy oneself and play alone is an underrated characteristic. Building Legos, playing with Hot Wheels cars, reading, doing a puzzle are all things you appreciate when you see there is a type of kid who can’t do these things alone.

The 6-year-old falls into the first category. He’s happy to get some Hot Wheels cars and create a game to play by himself. However, he will narrate the scenes in his little world so loudly it sounds like he’s playing with a group of howler monkeys instead of by himself.

It seems his Hot Wheels car games always devolve into 18 car pileups with excessive tire screeching, vehicle crashing, and rescue vehicle sound effects. Like the smallest and loudest foley artist ever, he provides a full soundtrack to his game as he goes about his play.

I’ve come into the playroom to tell -- what I was sure was at least three boys -- to keep the noise down to find just him. When I say something about how loud he was being he looks surprised and like he thinks maybe I’m hearing things.

He’s been like this for years and I really don’t know if he’s aware of how much he is saying out loud. Like the person in headphones who doesn’t realize they’re singing out loud until someone tells them, he’s in his own little world. I guess he figures he can hear his voice whether he’s talking out loud or not so what’s the difference if we can hear him?

The more I think about it the more I think this may have been a learned behavior from his environment. He’s fifth in the birth order after all, so he wouldn’t know what silence was if he ever had the opportunity to experience it.

It would be funny, and not unreasonable, to think he started talking out loud to himself when playing because he couldn’t hear himself think over the ruckus his four older brothers were making. Then, over time, he kept doing it and since no one noticed over all the other noise he got used it.

So now, even when playing alone, his games come to life in Dolby Surround Sound for all to hear. But, if his imaginative and sound effect laden play means we have to remind him to quiet down on occasion, so be it. It’s fun to get a peek into what’s going on in his head without even having to eavesdrop.