The Luckiest Mom

I yell at my kids more than I'd like.  Sometimes it's because there are 4 of them and the volume is so high at my house it's the only way to get my airwaves past the ones that they are making and sometimes it's because there are times when they seem to ignore me until I start yelling.

Sometimes when I'm lying in bed falling asleep I say to myself, "good day today - no yelling!"  or "I will try to be more patient tomorrow."

Lately, in an effort to combat the bad yelling I've started trying to work in some good yelling.  One of my favorites is to walk up to one of my kids, squeeze them tight and then yell into their faces, "I AM THE LUCKIEST MOM!"

They laugh because they know I am also the craziest.

Speaking of crazy, I wrote about this before but I've also been trying to redirect us all when things are going poorly.  One of my favorites happens consistently at bedtime when my children seem to have a hard time with "brush your teeth and go to bed" and I find them wandering the halls half naked or soaking wet or playing with Legos.  

At this time I try to offer them direction but after the third or fourth time I look them in the eye and half scream/half sing (in a showtunes sort of way) You're driving me, driving me, driving me.... CRAZY!"

I've done it so much it's now one of the girls favorite songs and they fill in the CRAZY now before I even get to it.  It may make us appear crazier but it helps keep me sane and less screamy so it's a win.

But the best thing happened the other day when I squeezed my 5 year old tight then put my nose up to hers and said loudly, "I AM THE LUCKIEST MOM."

After I said, "I" she interrupted and timed "I LOVE YOU MOM" to coincide with my saying "I AM THE LUCKIEST MOM" so that our "MOM"s overlapped and then she laughed and said, "Jinx, you owe me a coke."

And then we laughed and laughed.

 

Comments

[Heather F]

HAHAHAH! Love this!

The volume at our house is deafening at times, so I can definitely identify and there are days where I feel so danged bad about yelling all the time....so I usually breathe and then do something so completely irritating like tickling them or getting nose to nose with them and asking who is the best mom ever? It's silliness personified but then I don't seem like such a dick who yells all the time. ;)

Keep up the good work, Ma.

[D HArza]

you and your kids are very lucky

[Kana]

Aw, a shared soda of love. Much better than scoldings...good call!

[Kristen @ The Balanced Bowl]

I don't have kids. And I don't have something super spectacular to comment here. I just wanted to tell you how much I love reading about the interactions you have with your kids.

It's funny, heart-warming, crazy and I just love following along.

[TechyDad]

I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, but I yell too. Most of the time, it's because I get ignored when I talk in a normal volume. Of course, then there's a temptation to skip the "normal volume, get ignored, repeat yourself, ignored again, yell" process and start right at "yell." I fight this temptation and wish I could say I was 100% successful. (It also doesn't help that I came from a loud house and so tend to have a loud voice even when I'm talking at a "normal volume.")

Maybe I need to follow your lead and start yelling nice things at them to counteract my yelling when they ignore me.