So easy, even my cat can do it

You know when a small child is trying to talk to his parent, and keeps going on and on and on and on and on, because he just cannot get his parent's attention? This was portrayed humorously in Family Guy:

In real life, I don't find it funny at all. It's rude to ignore someone. It could easily give your child the perception that he doesn't matter, that he's not important enough to even acknowledge. It will probably take 15 seconds of your time to acknowledge and listen to your child. And then we don't all have to listen to "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy!" two hundred times.

This even works with my cat! Tonight I was in the kitchen, cutting up raw chicken to cook. I don't know if she could smell it or just heard me in the kitchen and assumed it was something good, but she came into the kitchen begging for chicken. (Note: She is very used to getting our food, because she's very old and too thin, and I will give her anything as long as she'll eat it and keep a little meat on her bones.) Now, the chicken was not cooked yet so I had nothing to give her, but she was being persistent, "Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!" I took ten seconds to stop what I was doing, bend down and pat her, and tell her that she was going to get chicken, but it had to cook, first. She immediately stopped meowing and left the kitchen. When she's waiting nicely for something, she sits quietly on the carpet just off the kitchen, watches and waits. And that's just what she did, until her chicken was ready. I got to finish the prep and cooking in peace.

Just talk to your kids! Everyone deserves to be acknowledged.