It is not clear why ‘keeping quiet’ is not so easy. The smaller one is, the harder it is to stay silent and adults too have difficulty. In a conversation between two people the interval between when one stops and the other starts speaking is about one second. Longer time intervals are perceived differently depending on one’s culture. English speaking people are uneasy after more than four seconds silence; the Japanese last up to eight seconds as a sign of respect for what the other person just finished saying. For some cultures perfect communication is reached when you do not have to speak; words become necessary when two people do not fully understand one another and so words are necessary to set things right. Some say that the more heterogenous a society, the more language is required to communicate and the more silence appears to reflect a problem. Maybe someone is thinking or preparing a strategy and can’t be distracted, or show his cards yet. In a way it is a risk for the one subjected to the silence. Instead for homogenous groups as in the case of relatives or close friends, even long silences are not a problem as there is less suspicion about the other one’s intentions. In some cases, such as commercial deals or political negotiations, silence is used as a strategy to convey the idea that one is in control of the situation. My mother used to say: “Kids all to bed and we’ll have a silence competition, the one who speaks loses and for the one who wins there is a prize!” Clearly, we never collected any prizes. A long silence allows you to observe and think about what is happening; it makes it more likely that what is said is sensible rather than simply an emotional reply; it sets the pace to which the others must adhere. Naturally silence should not be confused with consent.