N is for noise. On this first day of spring break for my preschoolers, I am in for a week full of noise. I am steeling myself.I am already home with them three days a week, sometimes more, so I am used to the chaos, but I enjoy the rare moments when they are at school and I am home. Every day is noisy already, and each day holds its own kinds of noise. There is the noise of trying to get everyone ready to leave the house, including the daily argument of one copying the other with their choice for breakfast. There is the arguing over shows and snacks and games to play. Then the sounds of playing and singing and whatever .It is just constant noise of all kinds.
To fully understand the joy, you must have had small children. Mine are only 21 months apart and look like they could be twins. My son, the oldest, is five and was a late talker. Since he was with family most of the time he had no need to talk, since we often anticipated his needs. It was only when he was forced to use his words, and his younger sister started talking a mile a minute, that he finally relented and began to use his words. Now, neither ever seems to stop talking, singing, screaming, muttering, you get the idea. In some sort of cosmic revenge, my son has started making up randoms songs and singing. This is revenge because my father and uncle often entertained me when I was little by doing the very same thing.
This constant noise from my children sometimes fades into the background and barely registers. There are other moments when I cannot even think because of the overlapping chatter. Since the noise comes from my children, I cannot put in earplugs or earbuds to listen to music or an audio book- because I do need to hear the rises and lulls in conversation that signal that my full attention is required. The funny thing is that I do not function well in complete silence, I need music or the television on for background noise to get serious work done.
What are the most frequent causes of noise in your life that distract you? Do you work best with background noise, or in complete silence? How do you deal with trying to work in less than your optimal work conditions.
1 comment:
My first had to have noise around him at all times; when he ran out of things to say, he just banged everything to hear the noise. He still can't sleep unless the tv or radio are on, and he talks in his sleep. My second screamed from her first breath. The screams eventually became words, and she never. shut. up. Never. Now she yaps in 5 languages. We swore we would not teach the third to talk, but she picked it up anyway. She will talk to the walls if no one is listening. She'll be quiet until the phone rings, or the TV is at a crucial moment, or you just sat down to write, and then she MUST talk about inanity at top speed. My autistic, thankfully, rarely speaks, but has a vast array of clicks, moans, groans, and yells. My multiply-handicapped foster son speaks non-stop, and since he has severe OCD, the babble is repetive, the same things sometimes three times a minute, and when told to shut up, he talks to himself, tells himself what he wants to hear, and then tantrums when it doesn't happen. I cannot follow an honest conversation anymore. My husband and I sit back to back at computers and IM each other. I can block out anything short of a bomb going off, though badly written TV shows (ie, 96% of what's out there) will distract me with ire.
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