Preacher on the Run…

My wife was in a conversation with someone who was visiting our house. They had been interacting for a few moments when one of our kids yelled, “Mommy”, from the other room! Hearing the call, my wife had to stop her conversation, head to the other room, and discern why the shout happened. A few minutes later she returned, restarted the conversation and was quickly going deeper into the engagement than before. But then it happened, another child, another request, another conversation interrupted.

This is a common occurrence with young children in the home. As Bethany and I regularly host people for meals and time together, we do not want our kids to be constantly interrupting the deeper conversations we have with people. We don’t want the deeper interactions we have to be like a game of “whack-a-mole”, every time a kid comes up, conversation stops, we “whack” the apparent need, and move on. This is no way to have good meaningful dialogue with those we care about and love.

“This is not an easy area to train your kids in, but it’s very much worth it.”

Jeremy Pryor

But how do you train your child not to interrupt? It’s a question Bethany and I are attempting to answer through alot of trial and error these days. One week we feel like pros. The next week we realize we have no idea what we are doing. Thankfully we are not first or only ones to try to tackle the proverbial interrupting child(ren). Jeremy Pryor and Jeff Bethke give some keen insight into this issue. They offer 2 Ways to Help Train Your Children Not to Interrupt. Check out their suggestions and why they are deeply helpful practices for your family and relationships.

Both of their suggestions are good ones that we will be trying to put into practice in the Kirby home. We know it won’t be perfect and the kids will still interrupt, but we believe the effort will be very much worth it on multiple levels. What other ideas have tried or seen work? What have you seen that doesn’t work? I’d love to hear from you and as always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day.

_{Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash}