Children who answer the phone?

Question

I have a friend who lets her young children answer the telephone. The youngest is 4 the other 7. When they answer they like to play around before they give their parents the phone. These children know me well. Yesterday when I called the 7 year old answered, she knew it was me, but she kept saying my name over and over. I finally just hung up. I am very annoyed by this; so much that I don't want to call anymore. I have mentioned this subject in a general way to the parents but they did not pick up on the hint. I should also add that these children are not very disciplined. Anyone have any feelings on this subject?

Answer 1

I find it very annoying myself when a child does not know how to properly answer the phone. It becomes even more disturbing when I encounter an adult with the same behavior. I encourage my 5 & 8 yr old children to answer the telephone often. I am usually right there by their sides coaching them on the proper things to say and questions to ask as well as to answer. My daughter knew to always ask right away "who's speaking please?" at the age of 4 years old. I understand that this does require the person calling to have a bit more patience but anyone who is important (not telemarketer) is happy to do this. Plus it is the perfect way to deal with those telemarketers, great practice for both them and my children. Usually, they end up hanging up and I dont have to deal with them.
For those who think kids should never answer the phone I ask you, "Did anyone teach you proper phone etiquette?" Do you ask if your friend is home or do you ask to please speak with your friend.
For those who suggests what if it were an emergency; a death in the family, perhaps? I ask you "What if it were an emergency? How well would a child communicate the details to a dispatcher if it was their 2nd time on the phone? Teaching them to dial 9 1 1 is just the first step in that lesson.
Maybe the best thing to do when your friends 7 year old answers the phone is to help him and his parents out and teach him something that maybe his parents were never taught. Ignorance is probably the reason why the parents did not pick up on your tactfully mentioning the problem. Perhaps they dont see it as a problem purely out of ignorance.

Answer 2

I totally agree with you. I don't find it cute, I think it's very annoying and I don't have the patience for that kind of thing. I used to have that problem when I called friends and they had a young sibling or cousin who answered the phone. Since I was a teenager at the time, it was more acceptable for me to be a little rude to the kids. I don't know how you're supposed to deal with it when your an adult and the parents are your friends. It depends on how close you are with them. I would say, "It's really cute when your kids answer the phone but I think it's starting to drive me crazy". I'd make sure I laughed while I was saying it so they didn't think I was too 'mean spirited'.

I never answered the phone until I was about 10 or 11.

Answer 3

If they are not mature enough if handle simple phone etiquette then the parents need to keep them away from the telephone. It is very annoying. I have a friend who has me in her phone by pressing one number..her 3 year old call often without realizing it, she thinks this is humorous. Some parents aren't mature enough in thinking this could be annoying and rude.

Answer 4

I agree with you... My daughter is 4 and I DO NOT let her answer the phone except when it is the grandparents calling because they want to talk to her!!!

I would tell my friend that when you call and their child answers that you ask to talk to your friend but they don't give the phone over to them... I had a friend that let her 9 year old answer and she just wanted to talk and I started telling her that I really needed to talk to her mom right now and she would hand the phone over.

If that doesn't work and your friend didn't get your hint, maybe you should email them instead :)

Answer 5

Yeah it is cute for say the first 10 seconds but after that is rude on the parents part because the kids aren't being taught manners. Stop calling and if these people are your friends, they will call you. If not, well, you just did yourself a favor and weeded out some sh*tty people in your life.

Answer 6

Candace, unfortunately, some parents think it's "cute" when their kids do obnoxious stuff like that & they really don't care that they are inconveniencing folks who might be calling them about something important

Imagine if their mother was in a car wreck and the state troopers were trying to notify them to authorize emergency surgery! It wouldnt' be so damned "cute" then would it!?!

Also, adults who don't set boundaries for their kids are doing the child a disservice. Kids need to have limits set and they WANT the grown folks in their lives who love them to do that for them.

I wasn't suprised when you said the kids are indisciplined in general - it sounds like these folks do not know how to properly discipline their kids and in particular their kids do not have the kind of boundaries they need.

Treating the kids like miniadults screws them up badly (they will spend tens of thousands of dollars on therapy in later life because of this kind of bad parenting)

Stop beating around the bush - I think you need to specifically tell your friends that you don't appreciate their kids playing on the phone when you're trying to call them.

Your friends will act all hurt and probably get angry (bad parents usually do when you tell them how bratty their little darlings are) but you need to protect YOURSELF from this kind of inappropriate behavior.

Answer 7

i would be less diplomatic and more direct with the parents next time you broach the subject with them

meanwhile next time the kids answer the phone
hang up immediately

do that several times until the parents get off their lazy asses and answer the phone for themselves - they will get the hint eventually (hopefully!)

the only time i put my son on the phone is when i get persistent telesales people - they soon hang up after getting a child talk nonsense to them

Answer 8

agree with you, this can be quite annoying. Parents should teach their young children the proper way before allowing them to answer the phone.

Answer 9

Just another example of kids not being so supercute to anyone but the pigheaded parents. I was once yelled at by a psycho mom for telling her daughter "shh!" when she was running wild through a nordstroms. "She's being a good little girl! How DARE you tell her to shoosh!" I say stop calling them. When they've run out of adults to know they'll wonder what happened.

Answer 10

sounds to me like the parents should teach their children not to answer the phone. When i was young my parents wouldn't let myself nor my brothers to answer the phone.