4 great parenting tips to teach your child to stop interrupting.

Once you become a parent, having an uninterrupted conversation with your friends seems to be a thing of the past. The truth is, it doesn’t have to be that way. Children are like sponges and can pick up new manners, including how to stop interrupting. You can teach your child to avoid interrupting others with a few simple practices.

1. Stay Calm.

Children often interrupt because they’re excited and can’t entirely understand how to calm themselves down. An excellent way to teach your child to be calm is to maintain a peaceful and relaxed home environment. If your child comes from a quiet place, he’ll likely carry that out into different areas of their life. When he’s still overly excited, your calmness will carry over and prevent you from adding to his excitement.

2. Talk to your child beforehand.

Explain to your child the impoliteness of speaking to you while you’re in the middle of talking to someone else. For example, Let him know what you’re discussing is important to you, just as what he has to say is essential. Remind him that while you want to hear what he has to say, he needs to wait his turn.

3. Use hand gestures to communicate during conversations.

Instead of using words to grab your attention, ask your child to place his hand on your wrist and wait until you’re talking. When your child does this, you must acknowledge his presence. You can do this by placing your hand on his and holding it there until you’re through speaking and can ask him what he’d like. With time, you’ll have a respectful, non-interrupting child at your side, patiently waiting to share something with you.

4. Be consistent.

Teaching your child not to interrupt can be challenging, but it is not impossible. While working on it, be sure to be consistent and acknowledge their progress with a reward from Wishfinity’s universal wish list. Naturally, you may have a few slip ups where you tell him “Wait, I’m speaking.”, but you’ll find the verbal communication during these moments will lessen.