Is It Normal for a Child to Talk to Himself?

Although the child’s self-talk may seem cute at first, it can confuse parents if it continues for a long time. Is this something to be worried about, or is it just temporary? Let’s see, is it normal for the child to talk to himself, what are the reasons?

Why do children talk to themselves?

Your kid learns everything from scratch, you know. He learns new words day by day, his imagination develops, he knows the world. There are also periods when children are almost called “parrots”, especially when it comes to speech. As long as self-talk is within certain limits, we can say that it does not pose any problem and even triggers its development.

In fact, we can think of children talking to themselves as an exercise. He hears a new word every day and stores them in his memory. Children, especially those who are learning to speak, love to repeat the information and words they have just learned. Not just words and knowledge; Many phonetic sounds, such as animal sounds, coughing sounds, car sounds, are also pleasing to your child and repeat them often for fun.

Another feature of children that emerge towards the age of 2 is their ability to imitate. Imitating the movements and actions of people they spend time with can be seen in almost all children. Talking like their parents and imitating their sentences is a common behavior of children. As their perceptions open, their repetitive speeches increase as they understand what is being said better. That’s why it’s so important for parents to pay attention to their speech.

Also this self talk is game for kids. He creates entertainment for himself by standing in front of the mirror and repeating your conversations. This is actually a game like a house game that we call “role play”.

Is it normal for a child to talk to himself while playing?

In fact, it is most natural for a child to talk to himself while playing alone. Because while playing with the child’s dolls or cars, he writes a story in his own way and brings this story to life with speeches. Meanwhile, his child’s imagination is riveted and he creates an imaginary universe there. This will cause no problems to be feared within a certain period of time. As he gets older, he gives up this habit, when someone notices their speech, he immediately shuts up, becomes ashamed and disappears over time.

When a child talks to himself, parents immediately think of autism for some reason. However, autism is more specific about self-talk. Like repeating meaningless things. That’s why it doesn’t cause serious problems if your child repeats meaningful things to himself (sometimes in a melodic way).

When is it dangerous for a child to talk to himself?

• If he can’t get out of his imaginary role while talking in the game,
• If he repeats meaningless things,
• If this self-talk develops suddenly,
• If he purposefully and willingly wants to be alone and talk to himself, it may be good to watch this situation. Such situations can be symptoms of problems such as lack of self-confidence, asociality, trauma, autism.