On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:22:22 +0000, Brien wrote:

My partner two girls, 4 and 2 years old. The 2 year old almost looks
after herself and amuses herself endlessly with whatever can be found
around.

The 4 year old is relentless in her need for attention. She constantly
has to be talking, commentating on everything, interrupting etc. Even
her internal thought process is entirely verbalised.

How can we help her to find pleasure in silence now and again? It's
exhausting just to listen to her!

I can imagine people reading this thinking that such talking should be
encouraged, but I've spent a lot of time with different children (mum
was a child minder), and this is really something else.

Get a timer, and use it! One of my boys was like this, but in smaller
doses. What I did was plan out the next hour or so with him. "Let's
cuddle on the couch for 20 minutes and you can tell me about school
today, then I have to get dinner started. While the potatoes are in
the oven, we can play Uno until the timer goes off.

Be sure that she has 100% of your attention when it's supposed to be
"her" time, and that way you can teach her to respect "your" time or
"reading" time or "quiet" time or whatever as well.

lm