Telephone Skills

The phone rang this evening during our daily pre-supper rush. This is the time of the day when I’m scrambling to put supper on the table and prepare the children to eat. One to three children usually scream at me during this time because they’re hungry, and screaming apparently makes me work faster.

I try to answer the phone when it rings, but when I’m busy and/or I don’t recognize the caller ID I’ll ignore it. Tonight I discovered that Ian had pooped sometime between my attempts to washing grapes and to wash everyone’s hands. My hands were busy with some dirty business when I heard the phone ring, so I planned to ignore it.

Surprisingly, the phone only rang once. Our friends and family usually wait until the machine answers before they hang up. I finished covering Ian and whisked him into the bathroom to wash hands. There I found Abbie, who had apparently entered the bathroom to wash her hands as well. When the phone rang, she picked up the handset kept next to the sink.

“Hello?” she answered. “Hi,” she continued with the conversation. I snatched the handset from her fingers, breaking her hello/hi cycle of conversation.

Mommy was on the other end. She had just left work and wanted to know if she needed to pick up anything on her way home. When a child answered the phone, she thought she had dialed a wrong number.

I told her she had the right number, but she was on the wrong end of Abbie’s first attempt to answer the phone. Her conversation skills need improvement. Answering the phone on the first ring is very impressive for her first try, though.