Why Is It So Hard To Follow The Rules?

With little kids in the family, you have to have house rules. That way, when their friends come over and tear up your house you can say, "Andy, can you please tell your friends the house rules?", and hopefully your kid will get their friends back in order. It doesn't really work, but you still have to have them. You also need them so you have an excuse to punish your kids every once in awhile. Ha, just kidding, but seriously, you have to have house rules so the kids know what you expect from them. They don't have to be difficult or lengthy, just rules of the house that everybody knows and agrees upon.

One of the rules we have that the kids, never, ever follow is "No talking to Mom or Dad while they are on the phone". We try to explain to them that when they talk to us while we're on the phone it makes the call even longer and it's rude to the person on the other end and it's disrespectful, but they don't care. My kids could be completely quiet doing their own thing and as soon as I pick up the phone to call someone, anyone, they will run in the room and have to talk to me that minute. Or start fighting. Loudly.

They know they aren't supposed to talk to us while we're on the phone, but they can't help themselves. They truly cannot stay away, they must find a way to communicate with us. Andy thinks that not talking to us means he can use his made up sign language to talk to us instead. So he won't actually speak, but he'll make all these weird hand gestures and faces that are so distracting you have no idea where your conversation is going. Or he'll whisper, because that's not really talking either. They just don't get it.

Yesterday, I was talking to my brother on the phone. The kids were in the living room and I was in the office so I could have some privacy. I could hear them in the other room, but they weren't fighting and seemed to be getting along okay. Amanda, of course, was in the high chair, her personal prison, so I knew everything was okay with her. All of a sudden, Andy came into the entryway (the office is off the entryway and when sitting at the desk that's exactly what you see out the door) completely naked. Huh? I was trying really hard to concentrate on my phone call, but it's pretty hard with a naked seven year old boy standing in front of you. Especially one that is constantly claiming he needs his privacy and won't change his clothes in front of me half the time.

Soon after Sarah came into the room and they both started telling me that she took his clothes off. Huh? He's seven, she's four. There is no way she took his clothes off of his body without him wanting her to take them off. I shooed them out of the room, telling Andy to get dressed, so I could finish my conversation. At that point Andy hugged Sarah and she said, "Ugh, Andy got penis all over my shirt". She took off to the living room and the next thing I know she was back and then she was naked. Seriously, I can never get these kids to change their clothes, but when I don't want them to do it they're all over it.

I finally finished talking to my brother and looked at the kids.

"What's our rule?"

"Don't talk to Mommy when she's on the phone."

See, they know the rule. It's just getting them to follow it that's the problem.