The world is a beautiful place full of every kind of diversity you can imagine.

And while sometimes we’re encouraged to ‘find our tribe’ this doesn’t mean just sticking to people who are the same as you are in every way.

Sometimes, differences can be beautiful. Because where would society be without both introverts AND extroverts anyway.

Too many (or a lack of) either, and things as we know them simply wouldn’t function.

So how about you think about this before you chastise someone for being too chatty or too quiet, before – like the family in this story – you reach an awkward impasse.

Read on to find out what happened here.

I outlast my family in a silence competition

When I was younger (and even now) I liked to talk. A lot. I was also a pretty sensitive kid.

One night, I was having dinner with my family at a restaurant, and I started going on.

My family liked teasing me about this, but knowing that I’d get in trouble for complaining (i.e. being called too sensitive), I just simmered.

That was until someone said something along the lines of “maybe you shouldn’t talk so much” or just “you talk so much.”

Let’s see how this kid responded to the accusation.

I straight up stopped talking. Immediately, they guessed what I was doing and tried everything they could to get me to talk, figuring it’d be easy to do with 7/8-year-old me.

I was determined to succeed.

Someone needed a cup from my side of the table? I hand it to them without a word.

Someone asked a question? I nod, shake my head, or just shrug. The server asked how the meal was? Big ol’ thumbs up, and so on and so forth.

Read on to find out how and when it ended.

My sister (about 11/12 at the time) tried to see if she could break me by also not talking, hoping I’d mess up, but she ended up breaking not five minutes after.

Eventually, our meal ended and we went to the car.

When I still refused to talk, my mom finally begged me to talk, asking to hear my “beautiful voice”.

The jokes about my talkativeness petered out after that.

Wow, the unparalleled determination of this kid shows just how upsetting these seemingly innocent comments can be to a child.

If a kid likes to talk, especially a sensitive kid, this can only be a good thing.

Sure there are times where quiet is more appropriate, but this needs to be taught gently, rather than insulting the kid.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person pointed out how upsetting these comments can be.

While others had had similar experiences, in different contexts.

This Redditor, meanwhile, thought the family had fully learned their lesson.

We’re all different – some are more talkative and others are quieter.

And that’s okay, you just choose which people you want to be around and accept them accordingly.

Some people clearly needed to learn this lesson.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.