Ol' Yeller

I am a yeller. I admit it. Some moms manage to keep a calm, collected tone no matter what ridiculous, annoying thing their kids do. Me? Not so much. I yell. A lot.

I wish that I didn't. I don't like that it teaches my kids to yell at each other (which they do, constantly) I don't like how it makes me sound. Growing up, I had a neighbor that yelled at her children non-stop, and you could hear her across the neighborhood. She was pretty much the white-trash queen, and that is not something I aspire to be. Of course, I also witnessed her beat the crap out of her kids with a plastic baseball bat in her backyard on more than one occasion, and I haven't sunk to those levels. And yet, I find myself hollering at my children in the backyard frequently, and all I can do is shake my head in shame and wonder 'What must the neighbors think?"

But in the past few days, Will's developed a new habit that I hope will help curb my yelling tendencies. Any time I raise my voice, he puts his finger to his lips and says, "Ssshhh, Mommy, be quiet.." I know it's probably not such a good idea to let my three year old reprimand me, but honestly, kid's got a point. And perhaps getting called out by my toddler will help me be a little more aware of how much I'm yelling at my kids. After all, yelling is way more effective when you don't do it all the time. Then they know you mean business.

Hopefully, I'll be able to turn myself into one of those calm, cool, collected mommies. Okay, that's probably too lofty a goal- you know how crazy my kids are, sometimes yelling is necessary. So instead I'll aim for not yelling unless I really need to. Maybe I can teach them to keep their cool by keeping mine. Hell, anything that reduces the noise level around here is worth a shot.