Proper and Effective ways to QUICKLY AND POLITELY END Emotionally Upsetting and Unproductive Phone Conversations with Your Mother:
- Well for starters, DON’T CALL HER IN THE FIRST PLACE!
- “I’m sorry Mom, but just because I am your daughter, that doesn’t give you the right to say anything you feel like to me.”
- “Mom, what on earth makes you think that is an appropriate thing to say to me?”
- “Mom, there’s obviously no way we are going to agree on this so I think we should just agree to disagree and end this conversation now.”
- “Mom, I’m afraid if I don’t hang up the phone right now I am going to say something we will both really regret later so I am hanging up now, okay?”
- “Mom, you obviously have no idea why I am so upset and since I seem to be incapable of making you understand I think the best thing for both of us would be to hang up now and continue this conversation at a later date.”
- “Mom, I had a really long, hard day and I am just not up to this right now, let me call you back when I have some energy, okay?”
And, for when you REALLY have been pushed too far:
- “Mom, you are SO out of line here it is not even funny. Would you speak this way to anyone else in your life? I didn’t think so. That is why I am hanging up the phone now. Please feel free to call me back when and if you think you can be civil and respectful and treat me like an adult. Goodbye.”
The KEY here is to HANG UP THE PHONE after you have made one of these statements. If you don’t terminate the conversation DIRECTLY after the quote, these statements immediately lose their effectiveness.
Make your statement, hang up the phone and have a drink!
