GrowingInGrace
09-01-2007, 07:58 AM
I know the phone is a magnet. Every time it rings, no matter who it is, someone is always interrupting. 10 times in a conversation. I know better than to MAKE a phone call when they are not otherwise occupied, but what about when a phone call comes in I HAVE to take?
No matter how many times I try to tell them to stop interrupting, they keep interrupting. Dd1 is the worst. She's 5.5.
And it never fails that someone hurts someone else when I'm on the phone. So another interruption.
I don't care if the phone call is just to chat. I apologize to the caller, and tell them I have to go.
But I've had some important phone calls to take -for instance from dd2s preschool director and others. I don't want to tell her to call back later.
I had just let the girls outside for a bit in the front yard. A very important phone call came through about dd2's preschool. I was talking to the director of the school about her possible emotional issues, then she and my dd3 were clinging to my legs, crying, fussing, carrying on. I picked up dd3 to get her to be quiet, kept telling dd2 to hush and wait til I was off the phone. Every time I tried to put dd3 down, she started crying again. Dd3 was like "who is it, who is it, who is it..." It's not like I could have walked away from them as we were outside and I needed to watch them. Or yell at them to knock it off (because the director was on the phone). It was awful and embarrassing.
The only thing that made it better was the director understanding the clinginess as she had a very clingy son when he was 3-4. He would be behave in whatever way (good or bad) that got him the most of her attention. If he got time-out, that was okay, because the way she did time out whas to sit with him. So he misbehaved in order to get closer to her. I asked her if he had grown out of it yet. She said, I hope so, he's 22 !!!!
If we were inside, I've literally gone into my bedroom and closed the door. But then they are all at the door banging to get in. I don't understand how they can ignore me when I'm not on the phone for periods of time, but as soon as it rings, they are at my heels.
What do I do? How do I gracefully tell them to knock it off? Because the "nice" ways of telling them "you have to wait" just doesn't work.
No matter how many times I try to tell them to stop interrupting, they keep interrupting. Dd1 is the worst. She's 5.5.
And it never fails that someone hurts someone else when I'm on the phone. So another interruption.
I don't care if the phone call is just to chat. I apologize to the caller, and tell them I have to go.
But I've had some important phone calls to take -for instance from dd2s preschool director and others. I don't want to tell her to call back later.
I had just let the girls outside for a bit in the front yard. A very important phone call came through about dd2's preschool. I was talking to the director of the school about her possible emotional issues, then she and my dd3 were clinging to my legs, crying, fussing, carrying on. I picked up dd3 to get her to be quiet, kept telling dd2 to hush and wait til I was off the phone. Every time I tried to put dd3 down, she started crying again. Dd3 was like "who is it, who is it, who is it..." It's not like I could have walked away from them as we were outside and I needed to watch them. Or yell at them to knock it off (because the director was on the phone). It was awful and embarrassing.
The only thing that made it better was the director understanding the clinginess as she had a very clingy son when he was 3-4. He would be behave in whatever way (good or bad) that got him the most of her attention. If he got time-out, that was okay, because the way she did time out whas to sit with him. So he misbehaved in order to get closer to her. I asked her if he had grown out of it yet. She said, I hope so, he's 22 !!!!
If we were inside, I've literally gone into my bedroom and closed the door. But then they are all at the door banging to get in. I don't understand how they can ignore me when I'm not on the phone for periods of time, but as soon as it rings, they are at my heels.
What do I do? How do I gracefully tell them to knock it off? Because the "nice" ways of telling them "you have to wait" just doesn't work.