Im on the phone!!!

If I ever need to get the attention of my kids, I swear all I need to do is attempt to make a phone call. They could be completely oblivious to the fact that I’m even in the house, but the minute I pick up the phone, they are all over me. Someone’s tattle telling, fighting, taking a poop, singing, crying, and, in general, just misbehaving, all while I’m trying to carry on a civilized conversation with the person on the other end of the line.

Just yesterday, when I was trying to make an appointment over the phone, my daughter decided that was the absolute minute she needed to play Uno with me. I must’ve told her a hundred times that I’d have to play later, but it didn’t seem to register with her even one little bit. She went ahead and dealt out the cards anyway. Every time I’d walk around the corner to another room to be able to hear better, here she’d come with my cards, whining about it being my turn. How could it be my turn when I wasn’t even playing in the first place??!!

I’ve tried everything from forewarning them before making a call to hiding in a closet. NOTHING WORKS! They always find me! I thought it would get better as they got older, but it most certainly is not. In fact, I think it might even be worse. I feel so incredibly rude when I constantly have a three ring circus going on in the background of a phone conversation. It is a real challenge to focus on something when your kids are using you as the free space in their obnoxiously loud game of tag.

I’m at a loss and could use some serious advice. Somebody out there MUST have some ideas in their back pocket, other than opening up a good can of whoop ass. So, what do you do to preoccupy your clan while making phone calls? Do tell…. PLEASE!!!