6 ways to get children to talk in an indoor voice

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Admit it, you've had to shush your children multiple times whenever you hear them talk loudly in a public indoor place. You might have also covered their mouths just to stop them from talking in very loud voices.

We agree that you shouldn't allow your children to be the root cause of other people’s annoyance by teaching them how to talk softly. If all fails, you can always even trick children to talk in an indoor voice.

Here's how:

Lead by example

As adults, we, too, cannot help but talk in loud voices whenever we feel excited and happy. If your children are feeling those emotions, it would be unfair to restrict them when they have heard you do the same. Unless you are having shouting matches, make it a point that you (as an adult) speak in an indoor voice when inside the house. Then, if, you have never talked loudly and consequently they have never heard you talk loudly, you can easily trick children to talk in an indoor voice.

Volume down

When your children are talking to you in a loud voice, reply in a calm, soft voice while gesturing to keep their voices low. This is another way to trick children to talk in an indoor voice by letting them know that there is no need to shout.

Ignore them

One way to trick children to talk in an indoor voice is to ignore them when they are talking to you in a loud voice. Instead of replying to their questions or affirming what they said, you can say that you didn’t understand them because of their loud voices. Encourage them to speak softly so that you’ll fully comprehend what they want to say.

Don’t say ‘don’t yell’

Trick children to talk in an indoor voice by telling them to "speak softly" instead of saying "don’t yell". Based on scientific research, some children only retain the last word in the sentence, especially if it starts with a ‘no’ or negative command. Make your sentences more positive to encourage compliance and yield positive results. So if you ask them to speak softly, they’ll hear the word ‘softly’ and will do so.

Praise indoor voices

Whenever your children talk with their indoor voices, praise them. Consistent positive reinforcement helps retain the idea of speaking softly when inside.

Loud vs. Soft

To make your children understand the concept of indoor and outdoor voices, ask them to yell inside and outside of the house. Afterwards, tell them to speak softly inside and outside of the house. Let them explain what they noticed about their voices when in different places. Trick children to talk in an indoor voice by making sure that they understand the concept of when to use their indoor and outdoor voices. Full comprehension allows your children to better implement the specific voices at appropriate times and places.

Written by

Karen Mira

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