8 Year Olds & Phone Etiquitte?

My 8 year old has a new found love of the telephone. These past few days I have been thinking that we need to round up all the 8 year old phone users and teach them proper phone etiquette.

The phone has been ringing way too early on the weekends. When I answer, I get, “Who is this?” What ever happened to “Hello, may I speak with xxx?”

When I send the neighborhood kids home because we need to start getting ready for bed, the phone rings not even 5 minutes later. It doesn’t matter that they have just spent all day here, or they heard me tell the girls it’s bedtime. They still call.

Oh, my child is not a perfect phone user either. She was speaking with her friend the other day. I said “Allison, wrap up your call. We are getting ready to eat.” *Click* Just like that, she hangs up on her friend. No goodbye, no nothing! “Did you just hang up on your friend?” “Yes. You told me to get off the phone.” Now, I don’t talk on the phone a lot, but I am pretty sure she has heard me say good bye every time I end a call.

The real kicker. A boy from her class called while she was out. When she returned home, I told her she could return the call. She puts on her plastic high heel play shoes and took the phone out on the deck. Um, he can’t see you and your fancy shoes, and excuse me, but you are 8. There is no such thing as a private phone call in this house at your age.

While I have never been a big fan of the phone, I am really not enjoying it here much lately.

Are your kids big phone talkers? What age did they start making their own calls? What limitations do you set on phone use in your house?

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