{"id":8604,"date":"2016-10-14T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T10:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=8604"},"modified":"2016-10-08T15:30:26","modified_gmt":"2016-10-08T19:30:26","slug":"help-child-wont-stop-interrupting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/10\/help-child-wont-stop-interrupting.html","title":{"rendered":"Help! My Child Won&#8217;t Stop Interrupting Me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-8605\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2016\/10\/child-1629537_1920-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"child-1629537_1920\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/>Reader Question: My eight\u2013year-old daughter constantly interrupts when I am talking with another adult. I have told her to stop a thousand times and she continues. What can I do to stop this? I feel it is rude to interrupt adults. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I agree. It is rude and your daughter needs to learn to wait for her turn. Part of the problem is that you keep telling her and she continues to get your attention. It is your attention that keeps her doing more of the same. Your words do not mean much.<\/p>\n<p>So, here is what I suggest. First, let her know that interruptions are only OK if there is an emergency. Review what might be considered an emergency so she is clear on what constitutes an emergency.<\/p>\n<p>Other times, her interruptions will be ignored and she will need to practice waiting until mom calls on her. Then, tell her that when she tries to interrupt you when talking to another adult, you will ignore her by not looking at her or answering her. Create a hand signal between the two of you to use as a reminder. This can be a raised finger or hand, but don\u2019t give her eye contact. Show her the hand signal and practice. Do a role-play and ask her to interrupt like she usually does. Show her what will happen now.<\/p>\n<p>When using ignoring, you cannot attend to her at all. This means do not talk to her, look at her or ask her to wait. Completely ignore and use the agreed upon signal. After a few times of you sticking to your guns and not attending to the interruption (you can tell the adult you are talking to what you are doing if feel this is necessary), she will eventually give up and stop interrupting. The reason this strategy doesn\u2019t \u201cwork\u201d is because parents attend to the child in some small way rather than completely ignoring. It only takes a look or a word to give attention and reinforce interrupting. Therefore, you have to be committed to the ignoring strategy and not give in to her persistance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reader Question: My eight\u2013year-old daughter constantly interrupts when I am talking with another adult. I have told her to stop a thousand times and she continues. What can I do to stop this? I feel it is rude to interrupt adults. I agree. It is rude and your daughter needs to learn to wait for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[914],"tags":[2732,3630,3631,1822],"class_list":["post-8604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-relationships-2","tag-child-behavior","tag-child-interrupts","tag-parent-training","tag-parenting-children"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Help! My Child Won&#039;t Stop Interrupting Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/10\/help-child-wont-stop-interrupting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Help! My Child Won&#039;t Stop Interrupting Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reader Question: My eight\u2013year-old daughter constantly interrupts when I am talking with another adult. I have told her to stop a thousand times and she continues. What can I do to stop this? I feel it is rude to interrupt adults. I agree. It is rude and your daughter needs to learn to wait for&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/10\/help-child-wont-stop-interrupting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-14T10:00:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-08T19:30:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2016\/10\/child-1629537_1920-200x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Help! My Child Won't Stop Interrupting Me","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/10\/help-child-wont-stop-interrupting.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Help! My Child Won't Stop Interrupting Me","og_description":"Reader Question: My eight\u2013year-old daughter constantly interrupts when I am talking with another adult. I have told her to stop a thousand times and she continues. What can I do to stop this? I feel it is rude to interrupt adults. I agree. 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Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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