In zoology it's known that many species time their calls to occur when another species isn't calling and so ensure that whomever they're calling to has the best chance of hearing them. It's termed 'temporal partitioning of sound-space". This 'partitioning' is why you often hear different bird calls after one-another and not over the top of one another. And so it is at our house. Adam and I have become adept at partitioning our sound-space so that we can hear each other between the cacophony bursts coming from our children. A typical conversation goes like this:
"Honey, I was thinking that we could-"
"Honey, I was thinking that we could-"
"Ahhhhhhh-aaaaa, mum-mum-mum aaaa!"
"-go to the door-"
"Mummy, I've got a poo!"
"- shop on the weekend to look at glass-"
"Ahh-aaaa-aaaa-aaaa, blllllllluuuuuuuur-oooh"
[pause] "-sliding-doors"
"OK, let's go on"
"Muuuuuummmmy - my poo needs changing."
"-Saturday after Gymba-"
"Ahh-errrrr-ah"
[pause] "-roo".
It takes a really long time to get to the end of a conversation, we often forget that we're even talking to each other and a million conversations don't get finished. I'm sure this phenomenon happens at most houses with children, I just thought it would be interesting to give it a name, and know that we're not alone in the wild.
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