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Excuse Me, Please!

How To Stop the Interrupting

By Elizabeth Pantley

Have you every been engrossed in a conversation with a friend when your train of thought is interrupted by a little voice pleading, "Can I please have a cookie?" So you patiently and politely inform your little one, "I'm talking honey, I'll be with you in a minute." You turn to your friend to continue your conversation only to hear that little voice again, "I want one right now. I'm hungry." You take a deep breath and sigh, "We'll be having dinner in a little while." Thinking that you've now solved the problem you turn to talk to your (somewhat-perturbed-and-I-can' t-say-that-I-blame-her) friend, only to find your own words drowned out by a rather high-pitched voice, "I can't wait until dinner. I want one nowwww."

If you're a normal parent, and you have normal children, I'm sure that you have lived through this rather annoying – but VERY normal - scenario.

When I was writing my new book, I interviewed hundreds of parents to find out the most common problems that parents were dealing with. "Interrupting" ranked very high on the list! So, without further ado, here, at last, are some answers:

Think about it: Many parents admonish kids for interrupting, but in the same breath they respond to the child's interrupted request! Interrupting is habit forming. Like many annoying behaviors, once kids figure out that they can "get away with it," the behavior will continue.