| Dear Lanae,
Have you ever tried to have a talk with another adult who constantly interrupted the conversation with completely unrelated, irrelevant details? Just the other day, I tried to visit with a friend. Every three to five seconds, he'd blurt, "Stop that!" or "Hold on" or "Just wait!" or "What did I say about that?" or "Doggone it!"
Of course, he wasn't saying these things to me. They were directed at his kids.
To be fair to my buddy, this bad habit is easy to fall into. Breaking it requires that we first make a pact that we won't say a single word to the kids when they begin to interrupt. Nope. Not a single word—or even glance their way.
Of course, their interrupting will get much worse in the short term! When this happens with small children, we can buckle them into the stroller or high chair or we can gently put them in their playpen or room. All of this is done with no words or excess attention given to the tots.
With older children, we often have to grit our teeth and manage to get through the conversation as best we can, despite all of the whining going on around us. When we're finally done, we can say to them, "This is so sad. You guys really drained our energy by how you behaved when your mom and I were talking. How are you planning to replace that energy?"
In our audio, Love and Logic Magic: When Kids Drain Your Energy, we teach that kids can replace this energy by doing extra chores, paying for a babysitter so that you can have a peaceful dinner away from them, or staying home instead of being driven somewhere.
Thanks for reading!
If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend. Our goal is to help as many families as possible.
Dr. Charles Fay
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