If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a mom, it’s that I’m never so loved as when I pick up the telephone.
I was reminded of this a few weeks ago, when I abruptly left work to care for my 3-year old son, who had come down with a fever. While home, I got a call from a source I had been trying to connect with for several days — moments after I put my son on the potty.
The next thing I knew, I was interrupted mid-interview by a boy who had not stopped to pull up his pants before deciding he needed to ask me a question. As I said a silent thank you that I wasn’t using a video phone, I explained to my son that we don’t interrupt people talking on the phone, and I apologized to the very understanding person I was interviewing.
When I described the scene to my coworkers, they all had been there before.
One abruptly ended a phone conversation with a dire threat because her sons had begun a messy, but silent, food fight. Another noted that she has become an expert at giving air traffic control-esque hand signals to silence her children when she is on the phone.
Another said that on many occasions he has attempted to quiet his children as he is dialing, but sometimes people answered his calls while he was in mid-yell, which is not the most graceful way to begin a conversation.
It’s nice to feel needed, but it’s funny how it happens at the most inopportune times!
Has this ever happened to you? How did you handle it?
