Yell Challenge Day 7 Report

It has been seven days and I have to say our house is a lot quieter. Not yelling really does seem to help with the chaos already present in the house. I now notice how much my kids yell at each other and I know they learned it from me and that makes me sad. We are working on correcting that. I'm not going to say I am completely changed and it will never happen again but I bet I will feel guilty the next time I do yell at my kids and wish I hadn't done it. This challenge has shown me that there are so many different ways to handle situations and yelling never is the right way.

Yell Challenge Day 6 Report

One more day left in the challenge and I think day 6 has been the worst day so far. I am so much more aware of how much I yell without a second thought when not doing so would be so much better for any situation I am in - of course unless someone is in danger and needs to be warned. I don't want my kids to remember their childhood with their mom a big ole miss of screamingness.

Yell Challenge Day 5 Report

Day 5 and the end of a work week is in sight. This for sure will make it easier in the household cause weekends are always stress free --- well may not. I think by day 5 of the week we are on autopilot. Lately it seems I am on it all the time just to make it through the week. I don't really like that feeling but anyway moving on... nothing substantial stands out as a big fail today. I guess you would say we passed day 5. It is Friday and everybody loves Friday right. TGIF!

yell challenge Day 4 Report

So today I was looking for inspiration to make it through the rest of the week and came across this article. It gives some good pointers.

http://www.bkhush.com/dev/content/how-stop-yelling-kids

Yell Challenge Day 3 Report

So with just the baby this morning to get ready we had no problems with yelling at the kids. The baby wakes up happy and hungry so when that need is met she is good to go. The baby didn't sleep well at all and was in our bed for two hours wide awake. I think the bad weather woke her up and she just didn't feel like going back to sleep. So I guess good we were two down on kids cause I wasn't in the best of shape to deal with any resistance. So morning report - we passed.

The night - not so good. We had planned to go to church and eat there. Hubs mom backed out and I was exhausted so we quickly changed plans. Problem with the change of plans is dinner hadn't been planned and the kids were starving (cause you know they hadn't eaten in like two days - realistically they had just finished a snack). So meltdowns began as we entered the grocery store. Luckily it was public - and who screams at their kids in public - lol. I don't think we failed once we got home but there was some louder than normal voice pitches heard. I honestly don't think we are passing but it is really making me think before I react to my kids so I think that is good.

Yell Challenge Day 2 Report

Day 2 was nothing like Day 1. I was like a switch went off and the kids realized vacation was over. Nobody wanted to wake up, get dressed or do anything to get out the door. It was a recipe for a complete yelling fest. I honestly don't know if we failed or not this morning because it was such a blur. I don't remember any super yelling going on but I know there was crying and fit throwing by everyone. The pickup from daycare was shaky. The kids were tired and hungry. M was with her mimi so we had no issues there and then we got a call that she wanted L to come stay too so down to one kid. We could handle that. No yelling in the p.m. Can't wait to see how tomorrow works out.

Yell Challenge Day 1 Report

Yesterday was Day 1 of our challenge. Nothing like starting on a Monday. But not just any Monday - the Monday after a two week holiday from normalcy (we were just asking for failure). To our surprise the morning was almost perfect. We had 5 people out the door and dressed by 7:30 and no yelling or crying ensued. Since we both work - the rest of the day was a breeze :). We had no major meltdowns when we picked up the kids. We served pizza for dinner so the hunger crazed scenario didn't occur ( a for sure yelling moment). Next it was bath time. It was like our kids were from another planet. They took baths with no complaining or questioning. It was unbelievable. Dressed and in jammies we just knew we were home free. Then it happened... Diesel stoodit in her diaper. So I go to change it and she starts flailing everywhere. I'm not going to lie, it was foul and unfortunately leaking out one side. So I yell. I failed - I immediately know he knows I failed. I discussed this failure with one of my colleagues and she pointed out that we in fact never set ground rules or defined what yelling was considered and that I should make the stipulation that yelling is acceptable when it involves situational pooh. Hubs please note the new stipulation. Game on!

Could You Go a Week Without Yelling at Your Kids?

Could You Go a Week Without Yelling at Your Kids?

My husband and I decided to take the challenge and see how we fared. We are both pretty competitive so we had some motivation there plus the yelling doesn't seem to be helping any - probably making any situation worse. With that said I am going to blog our experience daily to report how we did. I can almost promise there will be slip ups but I'm hoping the outcome is a lesson learned that maybe we can solve some of our daily chaos without the yelling.