Quote From: spunkyone3Well I am looking for some insight as to what I should use next. My daughter will be 8 this month and my son was 6 in May. I used to be able to use the 1-2-3 method, however my daughter is almost 8 going on 18. She doesn't want to listen and tells me I am mean or unfair and stomps off to her room and slams the door. I have told her that I will take the door off of the hinge if she doesn't stop. Everytime I get on the phone or am busy, she is always insisting that she needs something and just starts talking. I have tried to explain to both my kids, that it is rude to carry on when I am on the phone and that unless it is an emergency it isn't right. I am trying to help my kids as their dad and I separated 3 years ago and will be divorced for 2 years in March. They were emotionally abused before the separation by their dad and that is why we separated. I knew then that we would end up divorced as I knew there was no changing. I have had to go from the "its ok" mom to "its ok" but you need to listen. My son who was always the fixer of any problem is now picking up some of her habits and I don't know what to do. The counting to 3 still works some with my son. I love them so much and want to get things running smoother for everyone. I don't want to be correcting and it be like talking to the wall.
just a little trick that worked for me---when my kids were young, maybe 4-5 yrs old, they also thought it was "free time" when i was on the phone, in other words they were free to do whatever they pleased---they thought. well, after this going on for awhile, i began making them all sit on the couch quietly while i was on the phone. as soon as it rang, i made them get on the couch and be quiet and explained to them it was because they acted crazy everytime i was on the phone. after doing this for about a week, we had a talk about how they should behave when i'm on the phone and if they could do this, they wouldn't have to sit on the couch anymore. i had very few problems after that, because noone wanted to sit on the couch doing nothing. so it worked pretty well.
maybe, this will help will at least this problem. another thing, you really want to demand that your daughter be respectful toward you as her mother, just a thought---she's going to be a teenager someday. it's much easier to control her when she's 8 than when she's 14/15.
