A new challenge

I was blog surfing tonight and I stumbled upon the Orange Rhino blog and it struck a nerve. I hate yelling, yet I find myself yelling more than I've ever yelled before. We weren't raised with yelling...my mom's motto has always been "You don't yell unless the house is on fire!" I don't like to be yelled at so I'm sure that my kids don't like it either.

I honestly didn't yell at Isaac much as a toddler and little kid but now I feel like it doesn't take much before my buttons are pushed and I'm at the yelling point. So I'm going to take the challenge! 365 days is too abstract for me so I'm going to try for a week. Yep, a whole week without yelling at  Isaac, Eli or Olivia (I haven't yelled at Olivia btw). If I mess up (which I likely could) then I will start back at day 0.

It's always good to know your opponent so if I am going to be successful in this venture then I've got to identify my triggers. My main trigger is Eli not listening or minding. I'm often too quick to sharpen my tongue and yell "ELI, get over here!" or "EEEELLLLIII". The other trigger is nap time or bed time when Eli finds anything to do besides sleep. It's so easy to yell up the steps "I'M GOING TO TAKE THOSE TOYS! GO TO SLEEP!".

So when I feel like I'm about to yell.. I'm going to stop.. and breathe. I also find that I am calmer and have more patience when I use their pet name "angel". I mean wouldn't it be pretty hard to yell at an angel?

I'm going to keep myself accountable here on my blog.. so here goes!