I yell at my kids. Not just once a month, or when they are about to run in the street, but all the time. I'm not proud of this, I'm confessing the facts. Sometimes it because I'm tired. Sometimes it's because I'm distracted and don't want to deal with the situation. But you know what? Sometimes it's because my kids do stupid things.
That's right, I said it. Sometimes my kids just do stupid, childish things because they're children. Part of me raising them is correcting stupid things. I don't need to coddle them or say things like, "Now sweetie, WE don't color on the walls," Because you know what? I never color on my walls. I spent too many days painting them and getting help from others to paint them as well. Hard work and money went into those walls. I don't say, "We don't color on the walls because that's not nice." I say, "Don't color on my walls!" And then I make them erase it. One time Abby and Ally took crayons and colored both sides of their doors, the laundry door, their walls, and their closet. They scrubbed walls for two hours and I took their crayons away for a few days. I wasn't stifling their creativity I was purging the demons! ( I'm kidding, don't freak out.) When they said, "Mommy, our hands are tired." I didn't say, "Well, you learned an important lesson." I said, "That's because you spent so much time coloring on my walls. Keep scrubbing."
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of times when I yell at them unjustly. EVERYday, in fact. There is a whole lot of realizing my own failures as a mother and a lot of grace needs to be poured out on this old yeller.
-End of rant-
