Parents! Hang up your cell phone.

Exactly! It is so true that the kids do lose out when parents are pre-occupied on their cells but i suspect these kids would lose out at home as well. Cell phones are just a way of making bad manners more portable.

Great point. "Making bad manners portable" well said.

It is very rude. I'm glad you brought that up. I get really aggravated when I am with someone who takes a call when they are supposed to be spending time with me. I feel that they are prioritizing that call over me. Very rude. I am in the financial services industry. I meet with some people in their home to plan their financial future. There is not a whole lot in life that is more important then a financial plan other than health and family concerns. It's not unusual for me to be working out a fairly complicated strategy when their phone rings and they take the call. Arrrrgh! They will talk about an upcoming event, or what to bring to dinner, or how so-and-so is doing, while I sit politely and wait. I feel like they do not value my time. I think some people spend so much time on their phones that I truly believe that they don't even notice they are doing it anymore.

No because if I don't want to answer the phone, then I don't

Good for you! And for your your kids.

That's great that you spend quality time with you son. Do you ever feel like cellphone calls interrupt that time?

I would agree that there are times when work invades our personal life. But I see this at all hours, early morning, evenings and weekends. I can't believe that all of these people have jobs or urgent matters that need to be attended to.

Well said. It is about priorities. I am glad I am not alone with this feeling. I have always felt that it was rude for someone to take a call in my presence. It the call and the caller more important than time spent with me?

Good points wayhuck and welcome to myLot! Absolutely. In no way am I saying that we should NEVER be on our phones when we are with our kids. That's unavoidable. But I would NEVER talk to a client while I am in the grocery store with my kids. That would be extremely unprofessional. Maybe I'm wrong but I still can't believe that all of these people on phone calls early in the morning when I take my kids to school or on the evening when we are leaving baseball practice are business calls. And if they are, I am sure they can wait the 10-15 minutes it takes to get home. Meanwhile they can talk to their kids about practice, school life etc. I really do think most of these calls fall into your second category.

Thanks again for the post wayhuck. I wanted to share something with you that happened in front of me over the weekend. I was driving out of the parking lot where my kids play baseball. I was following another car out. 2 kids around 9 years old came running out from between two parked SUVs right out in front of the car I was following. This car had to hit the brakes hard and screeched the tires. The kids frozen for a second and then scampered over to their own car. I looked around for the parent. Sure enough, the parent was a aisle away chatting on the cell phone, completely unaware that the 2 children in their care were almost hit by a car. While we have been debating when it is ok to use your cell phone and when it not, I guess it really doesn't matter. That could have been the biggest deal of their career. If one of those kids got killed, it would not matter at all.

Wow, how did you do it? get rid of your phone I mean. Did you have to go cold turkey? Did you get the shakes and the DTs? LOL! I would love to be rid of my phone. If I didn't need it for work I would never use it. (Except when my wife calls and needs something from the store on my way home.)

Boy do I remember those. I had to use one to call my kids when I went out of town, I was embarrassed to use it in public.

I had an image of a bad sci-fi movie as I read your response. LOL. I hope as well that it doesn't cause any health problems. Remember those big Motorola cell phones in the 80s? If anything was going to cause cancer it was those phones!

You're right paulsy. For our older kids the cell phone is like a third ear! But I was really thinking more about the parents with younger children, maybe 10 and under. Sorry I wasn't more clear.

Great story Leeesa. I think that is exactly what we are talking about here. I think people don't even notice that they are giving priority to whoever is on the phone OVER the people that we are with. Or in the case of your story, tasks over her child. Good story.

Absolutely. Are kids deserve our time and guidance.

Hear hear! Actually talking with your kids. Wow! I just had a conversation with my 18 year old. He hates it when we make him sit still for 30 minutes or so and have "real" discussions. But we do it, a few times a month. But I think deep down he appreciates it. It least that's what we tell ourselves.

Great point. We are parents first. It's funny. I see small groups of teens and young adults in cars and they are all on their cell phone. First I think that's dangerous, but it seems like they are talking to everyone but who they are actually with! It's crazy.

I want to be clear, I am not talking only about mothers. Fathers are just as guilty. You are right. There are many things that could be happening that would require someone to take a call. But I can't believe that all these people during all these times have a crisis that can't wait an 30 minutes until we get home or to work or whatever. I would also ask, what is more important, a friend who needs comforting or your own children that want and need their mother's attention? A friend should be a reasonable adult who will understand if you need to call them back in a few minutes. Kids don't understand that. All they know is that mommy/daddy is not listening to me.

I know what you meant. I was just protecting my backside. I know as soon as someone thinks I am singling out mothers some people will get really angry with me. Lol. I don't mean you necessarily, but a lot of the reasons people have given here about why its not a problem to be on the cell phone so much when their kids are around, really sound to me like excuses. I have 3 kids. I coach 2 of their sports teams, I am self employed and literally live on my cell phone. If I am not available for my clients I don't get paid. I understand the need to communicate. I drive my kids to school everyday and have only taken a business call on a few occasions. I have never taken one at practice. It is about priorities like drannhh wrote. I too can think of thousands of reasons to be on the cell phone, but I really don't believe that all these calls are necessary and that all of these kids are ok with it. They might say they are like most kids will if asked about something uncomfortable to talk about, but everything I have ever read about child rearing and child psychology tells of quality and quantity time. Kids learn about life from their interaction with their parents. If we aren't interacting with them we are depriving them of ourselves and the lessons from our day to day experiences. Anyway, that's my opinion. (And my really long run-on sentence.)

I was just using mothers as an example, since it is easier than writing he/she all the time. It isn't as though a child will constantly be wanting something from their parent on the way to school or w/e fair enough if the child is asking for something etc, but some children are happy to walk along with their imaginary friends or whatever.

Hi abby01 and welcome to myLot! First I want to make sure that I am clear. I am talking about parents and not just moms. I don't want every mom in here coming down on me. LOL. I would agree that there are times when work issues come up and calls have to be taken. I am self employed and work almost exclusively from my cell phone when I am not meeting clients in person. If I don't take care of my clients, I don't get paid. But I rarely take business calls when I am with my kids. I do sometimes. Sometimes I have to. But it is rare. I can't believe that all of these people are taking business calls. I am sure there are some. But even so, there is not much that can't wait until I get my kids home. Good points. I hope you enjoy yourself here on myLot.

No kidding! You can sometimes spot the drivers that are on their cell phones just by watching them drive. Driving too slow, or changing lanes without regard for other cars or turning at the last minute without a turn signal. Arrrrgh!

Also, I would like to add, I don't like people that stays on the phone while driving! I just want to roll down my window and hop into their car and take their phone away. Specially those that can't concentrate at all on their driving!

I agree sophiasmom, But do you think that all these parents who are on the phone instead of talking to their kids are really all talking about business? I find it hard to believe that all these people have business to attend to at 7:30 in the morning.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. we can go to the grocery store and you can see some people who are on the phone the entire time. It's not business. I would never take a business call in the grocery store. It's unprofessional, loud and distracting. I am self employed and I deal with people's money. When my clients call it is usually urgent, at least to them. But a short call to soothe their concerns and a promise of a return call has never had a negative impact on my business. I work solely by what I do. If my clients get mad at me, they will take their business elsewhere and I lose money. I have never had that happen because I didn't take a call or hurried off of a call.