You do need to teach kids not to interrupt- otherwise, everyone will look at you like you’re a monster, because face it- kids don’t interrupt once. They interrupt all.the.time. It’s easy to forget what it’s like if you’re not in the midst of it. In fact, even at the park, it’s unusual to have 5- even 3- minutes in which children aren’t interrupting. Yesterday, I was at a park with just 4 of our 5 kids, and we’d generally get in 2 or 3 sentences before one of us was needed- and then they wanted pushed on the swings (they can swing alone) or shoes done, or pulled up on something or… It’s overwhelming, and I do understand Elly’s wish to talk for what could be 5 minutes (and know to Michael it would seem much longer and to Elly much shorter!).
In our house, interruptions are all rude, and if we accidentally interrupt our children (unless they’re being really naughty of course), we apologise and ask them what they were saying, and tell our other kids not to talk over them. We at least try to respect everyone, though they know some people like teachers get extra attention and respect, because they’re trying to teach us (we show this also)
Everyone is right in that you can’t win, neither as a parent nor as a child. You will always err somewhere!
You do need to teach kids not to interrupt- otherwise, everyone will look at you like you’re a monster, because face it- kids don’t interrupt once. They interrupt all.the.time. It’s easy to forget what it’s like if you’re not in the midst of it. In fact, even at the park, it’s unusual to have 5- even 3- minutes in which children aren’t interrupting. Yesterday, I was at a park with just 4 of our 5 kids, and we’d generally get in 2 or 3 sentences before one of us was needed- and then they wanted pushed on the swings (they can swing alone) or shoes done, or pulled up on something or… It’s overwhelming, and I do understand Elly’s wish to talk for what could be 5 minutes (and know to Michael it would seem much longer and to Elly much shorter!).
In our house, interruptions are all rude, and if we accidentally interrupt our children (unless they’re being really naughty of course), we apologise and ask them what they were saying, and tell our other kids not to talk over them. We at least try to respect everyone, though they know some people like teachers get extra attention and respect, because they’re trying to teach us (we show this also)
Everyone is right in that you can’t win, neither as a parent nor as a child. You will always err somewhere!