A friend and I were talking today about how difficult it is to make business phone calls during the day when you have little ones under foot. Luckily, my girls are older now (13 and 16), so this isn't something I've had to worry about for quite some time. But my friend has a 2 and a 4 year old who think that as soon as mommy picks up the phone, it's time for them to need mommy's full attention!
When my girls were toddlers, I can remember having a box of special toys that only came out when I was ready to pick up the phone. My girls were actually excited when I said it was time to make calls because they knew the special box would come out! They were not allowed to play with those toys if I wasn't on the phone. They would often beg me to "make one more call, mommy!" just so they could play longer!
I also would sometimes have crafts ready for them to do if I knew I'd be on a special conference call. When they were really young, I'd put the little one in the high chair and give her a paint brush and water and she would "paint" the paper. For my older daughter, play dough, crayons or watercolors worked great.
I can remember one time, my oldest wanted to be just like mommy, so she got hold of one of her dad's old briefcases and asked me to fill it with "important stuff". I added a play phone, some old catalogs, pencils, old order forms and a calculator so she could do her "business" while I did mine! She told everyone how she worked when mommy worked!
Just use your imagination and you can keep the kiddos occupied while you do your "business!"
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