The Silent Treatment

There is a children's book called The Great Brain which describes "The Silent Treatmen". If one of the Fitzgerald boys misbehaved, he would be punished by being ignored. His parents would not talk to him, and they would pretend not to hear him when he talked. This might go on for several days.
My parents never treated me like that, but when I was little sometimes I would try to give them "The Silent Treatment". I always liked to talk a lot, about my friends and my teachers and everything else. Sometimes my parents would think I was monopolizing the conversation --that is, not giving anyone else a chance to talk. They would say, "That's enough talking. Now let someone else have a chance". I would be insulted and decide that I would just not talk at all. I thought that my silence would punish my parents for not appreciating my conversation. So for about 3 minutes I would stop talking. But I never could be quiet for very long. Pretty soon I would forget my resolution and begin talking again. I don't think my parents ever realized that they were being punished. They were just relieved to have me quiet for a little while.