Yappin' fool

So I saw a couple posts on the internet the other day about being careful not to ignore your little kids when they're talking to you, like not staring at your cell phone while they're trying to show you something or zoning out on the t.v. while they're telling a story and so on. Well, it was sort of a slap in the face for ol' me. I know I don't blatantly ignore my youngest daughter while she rattles on and on about random things, but I do admit I tune her out after about 3 minutes and give her a random "Mm, hmm" and "Oh really" so she thinks I'm paying attention. Anyhow, after reading those posts on the computer I felt really bad for a good day or so, and made a point to look her right in the eyes when she shared all her stories with me in the afternoons and evenings.

However, by day 3, I found it absolutely impossible to stay focused on everything she was saying. I've mentioned this before, but that girl is a yappin fool! She could talk till the cows come home about everything under the sun. She only needs about 15 minutes to wake up in the morning and then it's on. She could carry on all day blabblin about the butterflies at school, the purple shirt her friend wore, how people decorate their houses and what she wants to do next winter. And that's just the car ride to school in the morning.

So I asked myself, how in the world am I ever supposed to keep up with her talking so she that she doesn't feel inferior and underappreciated in our family? No normal human being can listen to a 7 year old talk for four straight hours without their brain eventually shutting down from the millions of words constantly bombarding it. Plus, I'd never get anything done! I have 3 other people to take care and a hundred other responsibilities so I can just set it all aside to sit and have a one-sided gab session for the entire evening. And, it's not like I'm having normal conversations, where one person talks then pauses and waits for the other to talk. Oh no, this is one little person who hogs the entire conversation and I'm just the listener forced to act interested even when she rattles on and on about who did what in P.E. that day.

But I try, I really do. I want her to think I'm interested in why she colored that flower blue but the other one pink and when she goes into great detail about the rock she found in the neighbor's driveway. I am happy she likes talking to me still because I know in 7 more years she'll ignore me but I just can't feel bad for not sitting down with her for 5 hours every day, making eye contact and listening to her carry on and on. I will take moments out of the day to sit and listen and pray she doesn't grow up feeling left out but holy moly, those posts on the internet didn't apply to my little chatterbox so I refuse to feel bad on this one.