How to teach your child not to interrupt you

Did you know that a study from George Washington University found that men interrupted women 33% more often than they did other men? Chronic interrupters are asserting their power, their perceived knowledge, and their ideas at other people’s expense.  Interruption is often a tactic used by emotionally abusive people who use it to assert dominance and control.

When is this type of behavior molded? When they are young!

Teaching kids not to interrupt is an important social skill. Children who understand how to politely enter into a conversation, instead of talking over people, will likely be more successful in developing and maintaining relationships and overall will be more successful in life.

However, teaching a child not to interrupt starts with you. If you are guilty yourself of interrupting your child when he is talking, he is going to learn that it is OK to talk over people and model his behavior after yours. Role model appropriate conversation skills by setting an example and demonstrate patience and wait your turn while your child is speaking. Obviously, there are situations where you have to interrupt his chatter, especially when he is using it as a technique to stall in order to avoid chores; but I am talking about most situations that if you show him respect and not interrupt, he will learn from you that interrupting others is not OK.

A good way of teaching him not to interrupt is reading out lout to him. When they are young, of course they will fall into your words with questions or comments, but gradually you will need to encourage him to wait and control his impulses until you arrive at a period, look up and give him an opportunity to insert himself.

When this starts working, do not forget to praise his respectful behavior by saying’ thank you for not interrupting me’. Slowly, but surely, he will learn good manners and develop excellent communication skills.

What you must pay attention to is your own behavior. You need to be consequential and not respond to when interrupted on one occasion and admonish for interrupting on another occasion - when you are busy with something or someone else. If you do that, you only reinforce a bad habit, and children are very susceptive to that. What works once will continue to work – so they think.

Picture books are a great way of teaching him proper interacting and communication skills. Visit my bookshelf by clicking here and browse through my children’s books collection. Ordering is easy and secure.

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