Wednesday, August 6

She wins

I hate yelling. I never yell. One of our household rules is NEVER to yell at someone. Yesterday I broke the rule, as I was making dinner and at the same time being asked for the 586th time to fix the wings on some "Butterfly Barbie" (they keep falling off) and having my three year old spill a glass of milk on my feet. So I yelled I CAN'T DO MORE THAN ONE THING AT THE SAME TIME; I'M COOKING, AND I'VE FIXED THOSE WINGS TOO MANY TIMES AND LOOK WHAT YOUR SISTER DID AND BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA

Alicia stared at me and asked quietly:
-Mom, would you like me to yell at you?
-That's not the point, you....
-No, really, would you like it?
-Alicia, don't ask me to do something when...
-Answer me, would you like me to yell at you?
-No, but...
-See?

I think I lost this battle, don't you?

5 comments:

Buffalo said...

Wow! That must have been a little disconcerting.

I yelled a lot. I wonder how I would have reacted if my kid had said that.

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

I would say that's a better response than A running off in a fit, crying in a corner of her bedroom somewhere.....

Michele said...

I yell sometimes too and I think it's ok. We are human and it's a human response when we are overwhelmed. We can only stay in control so much and our body and minds can only tolerate so much and it pulls out of alignment occasionally but we get it back together quickly.

Big hugs to you.

James Shott said...

Better not to yell, if possible.

However, two things:

1. Sometimes yelling gets their attention where other efforts fail.

2. As a parent you can always employ a variation of the "because I said so" gambit!

Nuri said...

I hate yelling. When I was a kid my parents used to argue a lot and I really hated it. Some people tend to think that the more they shout, the more they'll be listened to, and it just wasn't true for me. I shut down.