How often do you find your toddler not listening,
practically ignoring you, not responding to your request and you find yourself
repeating what you said to him or her a hundred times more?
Often, I start off asking Spud to do something nicely, and
if she doesn’t listen, I ask again a second time using a louder and firmer
tone. And then I would raise my voice a little, and when it gets to the 5th
time, I proceed with threat like, “if you are not getting out of the shower
this very second, you are not watching TV and you are going straight to bed!”.
And, on occasions, as much as I hate to do it, I lose my head (especially when
I’m stressed out and exhausted) and I
yell - which, I know, is not a very good
thing to do.
Yelling is possibly the worst form of communication ever. I might get a brief attention from her, but
that is usually because she got startled before she started wailing her guts
out. I am no saint, but I try to be a good role model by not yelling too often
(and I really, really try.). It isn’t a trait I
particularly want to pass on to the kids.
It is frustrating to keep repeating myself over and over
again, but a quote I saw recently puts me in perspective:
This gives me the creeps, only because there is so much truth in it. And I just need to constantly remind myself that sometimes, it really is OK if Spud doesn't listen...it is about how I react that matters.
And sometimes, just sometimes, I just have to yell.
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