How to cure a child of interrupt-itisYour 6-year-old interrupts any conversation that doesn't include her. Let's assume she's getting ample attention and just can't fathom why you'd have a conversation without her.
"Usually kids aren't trying to be rude or disrespectful; they just want you," said Mary O'Donohue, author of "When You Say 'Thank You,' Mean It." "It helps to allow them to switch places and see how it feels."
She has hammered this particular lesson home with her daughter during one of the family's frequent manners-based drills.
"We try to turn respect from an abstract concept into something real ... that you can use in life -- so it's not just, 'Be respectful!' as they head out the door.
"I tell my daughter, 'Today, I'm going to show you what it's like when I'm not using respectful behavior,'" she said.
The drill goes something like this:
Mom: "How was your day at school?"
Daughter: "We had a test in science and -- "