Great Activities for Teaching Phone Etiquette

For most kids, learning how to use the phone is a fun time. Kids are always fascinated by the phone, and it is important that they know how to use it correctly. This includes proper telephone etiquette.

Learning telephone etiquette as a child is important, as kids will take the lessons they learn with them for the rest of their lives. Often, the first impression you get of someone is over the phone, so it should be a good one.

There are a number of ways you can teach your kids telephone etiquette. Basically, your child should know how to do the following:

•Answer the phone and politely and properly greet the caller.
•Be able to get the person they are calling.
•Take a message if the person is unavailable, or tell the caller they will call them back
•Speak clearly and in the right tone (not too loud or too soft)
•Know what not to tell the caller (Mom’s in the bathroom, I’m home alone, and so forth)

A basic script for kids to follow includes the following:

Child: Hello?
Caller: Hi, is your dad there?
Child: May I ask who’s calling, please?
Caller: This is Uncle Jim.
Child: One moment please. Or, He can’t come to the phone right now. Can I take a message?

When you should begin teaching telephone etiquette is different for each child, but as a general rule, most kids can learn basic phone etiquette by the time they are between three and five.

The following are some great activities that teach your kids telephone etiquette:

Using a toy phone

The phone itself is not a toy, and all kids should be aware of that. However, getting your child a toy phone or a phone that you no longer use (like a cordless phone with batteries or an old cell phone) will help him or her practice on the phone until they get the hang of it and you trust them with your real home telephone.

Role play

Role playing is perhaps the best way to teach your child proper phone etiquette. Once you have gone over what to say to your child, and once he or she knows how to operate the phone (pick it up, which button to press if your phone does not connect automatically, and how to hang up), you can call your home phone on your cell phone from another and have your child answer the phone. Then, you can pretend to be someone else as your child practices phone etiquette. Afterwards, you can go over what they did well and what they don’t want to forget next time.

Rewards

Many parents like to use charts and rewards when teaching their kids how to do certain things. You can make learning phone etiquette fun by having a chart where you can put a sticker or check off when they’ve answered the phone well. After a certain number of stickers, reward your child with something.

Proper telephone etiquette is a basic skill all kids should learn at home. Knowing what to say, how loudly or softly to speak, and how to take a message are all important things for kids to know. The above activities are some great ways you can teach your kids telephone etiquette.