Does anyone have a good strategy for child management during phone conversations?
I had the opportunity today to connect with a friend this morning via telephone, and it was great. We love talking with eachother, catching up a little, visiting, etc, but the only problem is that once I'm ready to hang up, my house is a complete disaster. And now they're napping and I'm faced with cleaning up all the ways they found to occupy themselves. (I know, at four and two it should be their responsibility--with moderate help from mom/dad--but there wasn't time for all that; it was time for lunch and then naps. I'd normally just wait until they're up, but we'll have to be leaving the house at that time so that I can make it in to work this afternoon, and I can't leave all this for Lance to come home to. :::grumblegrumblegrumble:::) Let me just say, though, contrary to what you might be thinking, I do still pay attention to them and stay in the same room to supervise, etc, but this is still how things usually wind up because I don't interfere in what they're doing every two seconds.
So, ideally I would have had a prevention technique to help me avoid this whole situation in the first place. Does anyone have any good, trusty schemes?
A friend of mine used to keep a "phone bag" in the house by the phone. From a young age, when the phone rang, she and her little ones would go over to the phone and the kids would get the phone bag while she was on the phone. The bag had quiet activities for them to do (not unlike what you'd take to Mass), and they played quietly next to her while she was on the phone.
ReplyDeleteBecause she did this every time, no matter how long the conversation, the kids learned that when the phone rang, it was time for the phone bag. She also was sure to keep "special" activities in the bag that they could only do during phone time to make that time more special for them.
At the end of the conversation, she just had the bag to clean up instead of the whole house.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
Ooh--sorry, can't help you here. I still do not have a good strategy for this. My house is either trashed or the kids WILL NOT LEAVE ME IN PEACE TO TALK ON THE PHONE. The only solution during the summer is to turn them loose outside (we have a fenced-in yard) with water and give them a bath before naps ... when given water, my boys will find a way to make mud.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of that, I'm going to go find a muddy link you might get a kick out of ...
http://prosopiavita.blogspot.com/2009/03/wordless-wednesday.html
I'm so sorry that I am no help either. I rarely talk on the phone for just this reason, and do emailing instead when my kids are napping! I don't think I have had a peaceful phone call in about 5 years!
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you find the magic solution.
My suggestion is like Lerin's...I've just accepted that it's not gonna happen. If I must, or really just want to, I make sure to get the kids settled with something first, and explain to the older one that phone time is quiet time. However, this rarely works...I like the phone bag idea.
ReplyDeleteOh, I also tend to load them up with snacks to keep them occupied, if possible. Food makes my girls very happy. Snack food, anyway.