to think that it is ok for our children to answer the phone at home?

[DoctorFrankenSquonk]

dp says it's "unprofessional"

I say it doesn't need to be professional as we are not running a business, it's our home.

okay, so it's a bit of a pita when our 2 year old answers the phone and refuses to give it to an adult, but you can normally wrestle it out of his fingers before too long

we werent allowed to as children but our home number was a business number too.

if its a home number then no probs in my eyes!

it's just a home number.

Sometimes people from dp's work ring us, but they know that it is our home, and he's not trying to work from here, just sometimes they ring him, that's all.

Unprofessional? I find the kids answering the 'phone is the perfect foil to ghastly cold callers. And grannies love it. It's a win win. snort.

Fine by me

I don't think small children should answer the phone.
Hate it when small tiny voice answers...maybe I'm unreasonable but that's how I feel.

i agree with you. your home is your home. why on earth do you need to be professional? your dc live there too, dont they?

mine is odd about answering the phone too. mainly in that he doesnt. he likes the machine to get it. bloody odd iy ask me. wierd thing is, i am adopting his approach and hardly ever answer the blinkin phone anymore.

Is he having problems gearshifting from work, with employees, to home, with small children?

Depends on how old. DD is great - very polite and grown up. DS#1 is a bit brief "Hello" "Hang on then..." but he usually finds the right person and sometimes even passes on a message. DS#2 just picks it up and heavy breathes

me and my sister always answered the phone at home, but when they asked for mummy and daddy, we always said, ok and hungup!

my boys now fetch my phone and bring it to me if it rings but they don't answer it.

Have to say that I don't let DD answer our phone at home. She has been knwn to occasionally, and it is fine - but ont he whole I discourage it,

When I was a child living at home I answered the phone - and recieved a series of very nasty dodgy phonecalls. As a child I was vunerable to this, and gave away information I ought not to - name, etc. Was very scray at the time, involved changing phone number and getting advise from the police. I guess that experience makes me wary.

DS was not allowed to answer the phone until he was articulate.

Hello, who is speaking please ??

If he knows who it is, then I struggle to get the phone back. There was one memorable occasion when Mars rang my house, DS answered the phone and they proceeded to have a love in.

I went back to MN, he brought me the phone when they were finished.

I'm with franke. For once they are useful around the home!
And, tbh, with school-age children, they need to learn phone skills and if they can write, they can take messages

I once had some bravura heavy breathing and gumming down the phone from a Mn's friend's baby. I think she had snaffled the cordless from the worktop...priceless. And very disconcerting! Fancy being able to speed dial before you even have teeth...

Hula - I had the same. Was about 5 and 7 when it happened and a man said some not very nice things to me after asking some very personal questions.
dd only 18 months so not an issue yet but no, I won't let her answer it until she is much older.

Gosh hula I didn't see that post
Fair point
We are ex-directory which I think was far less the norm until quite recently, hopefully that would rule that out

It's usually for them anyway! Mine are older BUT no one is allowed to answer the phone if DP and I are not in the house. They have to let it go to answerphone - then if it is us then they know that we are phoning back straight away and they can pick up on the next call or they can phone their friends back if it was for them.

Litle children answering the phone annoys me almost as much as little children recording the answerphone message. 'So cute'. Bah humbug. And don't get me on the subject of people whose answerphone message begins 'This is the Smith Family residence.'

lol @ unprofessional

Although if your dp has quite a formal workplace then I can (almost) understand his concern.

We were ex directory at the time it happened. Police say that bit doesn't matter. Prank callers will just dial any random numbers until they get someone. And now it is harder to track as people can obviously with hold their numbers.

I do make sure DD is phone aware though, and she is being taught phone skills - just with me doing the initial answering at the start.

I wouldn't let a 2yo do it, but agree that school-age children need to learn telephone skills and where are they to do it other than on the phone. Need to be articulate enough to carry on a sensible conversation and responsible enough to take messages or fetch the relevant person, though.

I don't let them chat for ages, but I am quite happy to let them answer the phone, say hello, then say goodbye and give the phone to me or dp. I don't think this is unreasonable.

(although taking on board hula's experience, maybe I'll be a bit more cautious in future)

If a 2yo is allowed to answer the phone how do they know not to play with it/accidentally dial 999 or something? I let them answer as soon as they were old enough to say 'hello, who's calling please?'

Oh ffs. I agree with you it's home, children live there.

vacua - they are not allowed, under any circumstances, to touch the phone unless it is ringing

But that sounds scary Hula. I'd be taking it off them within a couple of minutes though.