PHONE INTERRUPTIONS

An old parent educator joke is, “If you think your children are ignoring you or you feel lonely, pick up the phone and talk into it--or--try to go to the bathroom alone.”  I make this point to be clear that you are not alone in the aggravating situation of constantly being interrupted when you are talking on the phone.  

Have a timer by the phone. When the child interrupts, stop and say, "I will be talking on the phone for this long. You can not talk to me until this timer goes (ding!). See if you can put your puzzle together before the timer goes ding!"  

If the child continues talking, fussing, etc. stop the conversation. If you have a really stubborn child, you might tell your friend you will call back in three minutes; hang up on him/her, but leave the phone off the hook. If you have a portable phone, you can walk the child back into the other room two or three times without commenting to the child. The child knows what you are doing and why. If there is no "stuff" in the doing, the child will get....yep, that word again.....bored and give up.

Copyright (C) Sandy Spurgeon McDaniel, 2000