to dislike it when I call a friend and a child answers the phone?

[hambler]

Tonight called a friend whose very bossy 10 yo dd answered with "Hello who am I speaking to?"

She has been doing this since she was about 5 or 6.

I HATE it when kids answer the phone. It's not like the call will be for them.

It never crossed my kids' minds to pick up the phone when they were young and I would never have suggested/encouraged it.
AM I alone?
BU?

Blinder looks like you and I are both unreasonable

You clarified partly why I dislike it with your point about there being an assumption I find other peoples' children interesting and adorable on the phone. I DON'T.

It's obviously a completely different issue when your kids are of the age that the call may be for them.

Blimey - is this all there is to worry about??? A kid answering the phone! What a pisser!

But hambler other people don't really care that you don't find their kid's interesting. They like for their kids to answer the phone, you don't like it - you are the one with the problem, not them.

YABU to say the call won't be for them because it might be.

I always used to answer the phone. My mum taught me to say "Hello, who would you like to speak to please."

Interesting so many of you are getting riled about people (me) not liking it when kids (yours ) answer the phone!

yabu
surely you have a few minutes in your day to interact with a child

HOWEVER, I do wish people wouldn't leave the phone in a place where there small child can ring me, wander around their house whilst still connected unbeknownst to the adult and tie up my line for over an hour!!!
Damn redial and speedial!!

their not there, I do apologise.

No , I am fed up interacting with my OWN children !

i loathe it op
My kids do not pick it up as a rule and they are older
the young ones would not dream of it

kids are generally rude anyway ( the type who pick up the phone anyway )

I do think only children 5 and over should answer the phone though.

You see I just don't attribute any sorts of thoughts to it. The phone rings, someone answers. That's it. I'm not expecting anyone to find dd cute or interesting, it's not a platform for me to say to anyone "oh look how adorable she is", "look how clever she is and she's only 4" - she's just answering the phone plain and simple, and if she's the nearest and gets it first, why not?

Not riled hambler but I have to say, if I knew this annoyed someone who calls us I would be making a special effort for DS to answer those calls, yay for caller ID.

surfermum - if it were only that easy! (talking about the under 5s again)

Me: Hello.
U5: mmm... 'lo
Me: Is your mummy there?
U5: ...'lo... 's.
me: Can I speak to her please?
U5: I dun a poo..
me: that's very clever - can I speak to your mummy please?
U5: 's

Me: Can you go and get your mummy please?
U5: ..... MUUMMMMMEEEEE....

At this point it has been known for said U5 to hang up the phone.

Many under 5's are quite capable-my rule was if they answered they had to do it properly.

Did you read my post Surfermum? What a pita that was.

what under 5's can't talk? or only talk nonsense/

good grief - what a strange idea of under 5's you lot have.

Bear in mind that some of the youngest reception children aren't even 5 yet.

And I've only ever met one child at nursery (pre-school) that I could't understand or hold a simply conversation with!

and ime it's only the children that haven't been told what to do if the phone rings that haven't got a clue what to do.

But in answer to your scenario thumbwitch I feel like saying "And? ..." but that's rude and I'm not meaning to be. It's just that if I were the caller, having an under 5 answer the phone like that wouldn't irritate me. I might find it funny, but other than that .... nope, nothing!

Now, the way dh stirs a mug of team irritates me beyond belief. Weird, eh? .

I hate children answering the phone to me too and don't let my Ds(almost 11)answer the phone unless I specifically ask him to and that's usually if I'm in the shower. I've never allowed him to and he just doesn't.

I don't know mintyy ... will go and check . I'm flitting in and out of this thread while supposedly cleaning .

Doesn;t bother me one bit. Maybe you should exchange mobile numbers and explain your particular dislike

Ok, Mintyy I've read it now. Bless her heart! To me though, it's just one of those things that she happened to answer. I suppose the way I look at it is that people aren't necessarily going to answer the phone or be immediately available when you ring, you take pot luck.

Anyway, how do you stop them answering it, especially if you're out in the garden or on the loo or something?

YANBU

awful jumped up rude little precocious bratty behaviour yuck hate it.

a friend's ds notoriously used to VET callers and keep you on the line, toying with whether he'd put you on to his parents or not.

they thought this was adorable!!!! WTF????

Once his aunt called to speak to tell his mum that his grandfather had had a massive stroke and to put this mum on the phone etc. He p**ed her about for ages before he went to get his mum. The aunt was absolutely furious, parents immune, they think he's a genius.

me and dh think he's Damian.

Well you'll get a lot more sense out of my 4 year old than my 10 year old.

I'm with surfermum, really find it hard to imagine having an opinion on this.