why must people let their toddlers answer the phone?

I let my 3 and 4 year old daughters answer the phone all the time. Expessially if it's my mom or a close friend. They pick and they dont mess around it's "hello?" "Yes my mommy is here" then they will talk for a few minutes. Then they say "You want to talk to my mommy now?" and then I get the phone handed to me. I taught my children how to answer the phone. So, I personally dont see anything wrong with it. My children know that if the person on the other line say let me talk to mommy they know to give it to me.

Hi scarlet_woman! It usually irritates me and drive me crazy whenever I talk to those little angels. haha.. I do love children but I don't like them on the other end of the phone. I just don't understand other people who let their kids answer the phone when they can't even barely talk yet. Just my thoughts my friend. Take care always and have a nice day! :)

I don't mind them answering the phone, but I do think they should take over in just a reasonable time. Don't just leave them on there.

yes, it is cute but it is rude to let a toddler answer the phone. not good phone ettiquette. parents should understand this that nowadays , it is not cute to be cute. if it was decades ago, it could have been. it is irritating.

When my son was little I taught him how to answer the phone properly. He would say "hello" and "who is it please" before handing the phone to me. A good friend of mine has a toddler who will race to pick up the phone and gabble way for ages, but when I suggested she teach him to answer the phone properly she simply said "but he's so cute" D'oh.

Okay, I agree that toddlers shouldn´t answer the phone. But I taught my two boys, who are now 12 and 13, as early as possible how to answer the phone, what to say, what not to say, not to give personal information to somebody they don´t recognize, etc. Why? So I don´t have to answer the phone! I became tired very early on in my marriage to be the receptionist, taking messages for my wife, who receives a lot of calls. Now my boys are beginning to get calls from their girlfriends! And it would just drive me nuts. I don´t like the phone anyway, and the few people I give my number to I give my cellphone number (I can switch that off.). In fact, I find the phone pretty intrusive. But I´m the minority here, I accept that. But my boys are just doing fine....

I'm not sure why. most of the time, you cannot understand what they are saying when they answer the phone either. they really do not understand what an emergency is either.

That's funny! I was going to say that I don't let my four year old answer the phone, but then I remembered that's not true. Mine knows how to answer the cell phone. Fortunately for us, the only person that calls is her Daddy when he is at work. They talk on the phone sometimes and that makes her feel less lonely to hear his voice. So far she has not picked up the cell phone and turned it on for a stranger calling. But I guess that will happen eventually.

my kids were not allowed to answer the phone until they knew the proper way to answer it. As you said...what if it were an emergency?. Even in a non-emergency situation, if the child is not old enough to and hand the phone over to the right person then it is NOT cute. My girls were not even allowed to ask "who's calling?" unless I was not there and they were taking a message.my children were taught really young how to use the phone. We practiced on grandparents and close friends and with their agreement.

Hello scarlet, yes a lot of times my mom complained to me that so and so daughter keeps hogging the phone each time she requested to talk to her mom. And it seems that the mother was the one who wanted her daughter to answer the phone since she is busy and all that or probably in "the kitchen". I think it is kind of sweet for kids to answer the phone, but like you said, it would be kind of crazy to me if it's an emergency and we need to send a message across a.s.a.p. And I have called my aunt's house to talk to her husband and her little one would jab on the phone for a good 5-10 minutes before I finally get to talk to her father, ha!

my son when he was a toddler was trained to say I am Robbie, do you want my mommie, then when the person said yes, he would say okay I will get her, just as simple as that. train your child just a few words and tell him or her to come andget you will save everybody's tempers. kids have even learned to call 911 an emergency and saved their moms lives.I agree a child just babbling on a phone is so irritating but they can be taught.

everytime i call up my sister this always happens to me. its okay if its not important call, but i hate it when my niece is answering the phone and she ash so many questions. then she is still trying to think who i am. garrr. and after a five minute talk all she will say is mommy's sleeping. if they think it is cute well it is not. there are a lot of people out there who are busy too so dont let the kids answer the phone. its okay if they are already studying and knows what to do.

I only let my children answer if I know the caller is family like my mum. I dont like them answering the phone any other time incase like you say it is important as once they have the phone its hard to get it back. Theres only one other time I will put my children on the phone and that is to telesales who just will not listen when I say no to what ever they are trying to sell, then I let my eldest on trust me that soon gets rid of them lol!

I think at times this can be costing me because as the toddler is on the other end trying ot make up those words and my phone credit over here is going up. It not a bad thing to ask a toddler to answer the phone but I think they should be prperly trained and guided before they actually pick up the phone. Maybe an adult - mum or dad should sit nex to the toddler when he answers the phone the first few times - you know like guide him and when he gets stuck just take away the receiver and answer the phone themselves.

I have observed this kind of situation from my aunt's house before. They are training their kids to answer the phone as a form of a social interaction. They may not see the person they're talking to but the respect is still there. It's a way of teaching your kids to be confident enough to face people they don't really know much.