5yo and interrupting

[CatsOfSummer]

My DS is 5 (almost 6) and a lovely, bright, intelligent child. He’s coped with lockdown and learning at home really well and I have no concerns about any of his other behaviours. For background, we have a DD who is 3, and DH and I are currently both working from home.

DS’ interrupting is driving me absolutely wild. He does it while I’m on the phone. He talks/shouts over our conversations constantly, at which point we tell him (calmly) that we are talking and he can talk when we’ve finished. He rarely listens, either talking over us again moments later or inventing reasons he had to interrupt (‘I just wanted a hug!’) even though he gets lots of hugs and this was absolutely not the reason he had to talk. He does it when we are talking to DD - she had drawn on the floor yesterday and tried to run off so I was dealing with that, trying to catch her while asking her to come to me and in steams DS repeatedly asking me to come look at something he’d drawn. As I write this I can hear DH telling him to stop interrupting him while he’s talking to her.

It is driving me mad and I feel I rarely get to finish anything I want to say. I’ve explained that if someone is talking he has to wait, that he wouldn’t interrupt his teacher (I’ve never been told he does this at school) but it’s just getting worse. Anyone have any tips?

No tips but wanted to say I hope it’s just a phase as my 5 year old is doing the same. The first time he interrupts I ignore him but it doesn’t work and then the second time I will stop what I’m doing, look at him and say im speaking, please don’t interrupt me’ he then will go off for a minute or 2 but then interrupts me again. I just ignored him.l but I doubt this is a good thing to do 🙈 When im finished doing what I was doing I ask to speak to him and explain that interrupting someone is rude and please don’t do it. It’s exhausting 🤷‍♀️

I think this is pretty normal at this age, particularly in the circumstances. He’s lost all his other social outlets, he’s lost the stimulation of school, he’s constantly seeking attention and social interaction. He’s interrupting when your focus is elsewhere.

If you can I’d really up the uninterrupted sole focus on him. I know that can be impossible though but I’d go for understanding rather than strict when he’s interrupting.

I've taught dd how to interrupt politely eg by saying excuse me for instances when she can't wait. As an adult I sometimes find it hard to judge when I can 'take my turn' in conversation, and as a child it sometimes must seem like they are waiting forever.

Thank you for all your replies!

I'll definitely try to have some more one on one time with him. He's missing his friends and school very much, we've tried a few Houseparty chats with a couple of his friends and they often all end up talking at the same time or pulling faces

I also like the interrupting politely idea, thanks Lois. He's actually been mainly lovely during this really stressful time - his 3yo sister on the other hand has been much more challenging, she's really missed nursery and going to the park/soft play plus she's had a growth spurt which all have resulted in many tantrums. Nursery are possibly opening back up in August so she might go back in for a couple of days if they do.