I clearly remember a time when it was physically impossible to stop my eldest daughter from talking. Back in the days when every gurgle was an iambic pentameter, she could hold forth on any topic for hours at a time without seeming to draw breath.
I went about my daily chores accompanied by a constant stream of high-pitched chatter that only ceased when her mouth was required for alternative usage such as eating or snoring. When daughters No.2 and 3 arrived, the noise swelled to alarming proportions and while I was thrilled that my offspring had such a robust command of the spoken word, it was like living with a flock of starlings, only more irritating.
A solid primary education has worked wonders in expanding vocabulary and syntax and playground slang infiltrates family conversation at every level. Even my husband has been known to mutter 'totally gross', when asked to unload the dishwasher. While my second and third daughters continue to chatter at every opportunity and still find the word 'toilet' breathtakingly funny, daughter No.1 is on the cusp of adolescence and impending hormonal hell and appears to be growing ever more silent.
Trying to hold a conversation nowadays is exasperating in the extreme as every question is met with 'fine' or 'dunno'. As techniques go for resisting interrogation, this is an excellent method guaranteed to drive parents to the edge of reason.
'Darling, do you think you could possibly assist in the retrieval of objects from the dishwasher?'
'Dunno,' is the reply.