Monday, February 25, 2008

We're Sorry, The Number You Have Called Has Been Disconnected or is No Longer In Service
Sometimes I am tempted to disconnect the phone... at least for a little while. You see, Red has a friend that calls all. the. time. I'm not exaggerating. He will call, talk to Red for 20 minutes, get off the phone and call again 10 minutes later. He called at 8:00 yesterday morning and talked for about 5 minutes before we made Red get off to go to church.
I stayed home from church yesterday (Baby Girl is almost better, but Little Bug is now getting worse... up all night with a cough :P) and he tried to call every 10 minutes. I didn't answer. When Red and Hubby got home from church, we wanted to play a few games with the family. The phone started ringing again. I checked the caller ID and then we didn't answer. To me, the phone is a convenience in my home. Just because someone calls, does not mean I have to answer. After we were done playing games, he called again and we let Red talk.
Fast forward to 5:12 this morning... we got a phone call. Now, most early morning phone calls have either been people wanting into our community (we're gated) or family, calling with bad news. But today... well, today it was the friend. Hubby answered and whoever it was tried to hang up and start dialing again. Didn't work. Then they hung up. We checked the caller ID - it was Red's friend's home. GRRR! I know this kid's Dad works nights - and so they may have accidentally hit redial trying to call him, but it called us... and it woke Little Bug. Which means that I'm annoyed. Once Little Bug is awake - he won't go back to sleep. And he's sick... he needed those extra two hours...
We have set down rules about the phone. If we didn't, this kid would keep Red on the phone for hours... normally I would say, "Why don't you just ask him to come play?" But we just can't seem to shake this illness... hopefully Little Bug will get through it and all will be well.
Anyway, we've told Red that he can only accept two phone calls a day, 15 minutes each time. I think that's plenty for a 9 year old boy...
What would you do? Would you continue to screen calls? Or do you think we are overreacting? Should we just let them talk as long as they would like? I like this kid - but I think these boys need to be outside playing, not inside on the phone. Thoughts??

12 comments:

Jen said...

I cannot believe that little boy calls so much. And I can't believe his mother allows him to be on the phone that much.

... said...

i always look at the caller id and most of the time i don't want to talk so i let the machine pick it up.

yes, i think this kid calls way too much. have you said anything to him? maybe a simple conversation can clue him in that he's calling too much.

Holly (2 Kids and Tired) said...

Caller ID is good for a reason. We don't always answer the phone either. I'd talk to the kid's mom. Especially about the early morning phone calls. She may not be aware of it. And if she doesn't do anything about it, tell him yourself that he can only call Red once a day. Like diana said, a simple conversation may clue him in.

Ally said...

I'm with Holly - I'd talk to the boy's mother about it.

I'm really surprised that boys that age would want to talk on the phone! But I think it's a good thing to have friends, and some chatter on the phone couldn't hurt. But I would definitely put limits on it as well, like you have. That's smart.

Good luck! ;)

Tonya said...

I think you are totally right. When he feels better they can just play together. When I was young we have a party line so I couldn't be on the phone for more than 10 minutes at a time.

Tonya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

I'm lucky if I get one phone call a day...can't imagine the phone ringing off the hook, actually. Maybe when the girls are older like Red, eh?

Beth said...

He calls too much! I'd talk to his mom too. Peter has a friend he likes to talk to and it drives me crazy! Just come play. Peter is hard of hearing in his right ear so inevitably he turns on the speaker phone and wanders all over the house with it. They would talk all day too. I try to limit it as much as possible. Good luck.

flip flop mama said...

I agree, mention it to his mom. That's way too much for a kid to be calling...

Yvonne said...

I'd mention it to the mom, too. That is way too much calling--well, until he's a teenager and then the cell phone buzzes all the time. But then, they're the ones who have to answer.

elasticwaistbandlady said...

I don't like kids calling here because we canceled our home phone and cell phone minutes cost money.

Yay for teh internetzzzzz!

Randi said...

I'd just talk to him about it, first. Maybe tell the kid that Red can only talk on the phone between 4-6 pm, so please don't call in the morning anymore.
If that doesn't work definitely talk to his mom.