My husband left for a six month deployment 3 days ago. I am now alone with my 3 children. I'm trying an experiment while he's gone. For as much as I miss having him around, I am embracing this unique opportunity to do things 100% my way for a while. It may be selfish, but my intentions are good. I would like to start by turning my home into a "yell-free" zone. It turns out that when I'm upset, I raise my voice. When I want something done quickly, raise my voice. When I don't feel like getting off the couch, voice up. I'm seeing this behavior in my children, sort of like an ugly mirror and thinking -- UGH. I don't want this for my house, for my life, for my family.
So -- what is the plan? Step one: Pray every day, before I actually get out of bed. A simple prayer "God, if I'm going to yell, make me realize I should keep my trap shut!" Step two: Infuse music, music has a way of making you want to dance, not yell. Step three: Minimize that which stresses me out -- which assumes I've figured out what stresses me out. (Kids' homework that goes over one hour, kids fighting with each other are known stressors). Step four: Stop eating so much sugar -- not that we eat a lot of sugar in our house, but deployments usually mean that Hershey's chocolate bars become my boyfriend -- so they are being evicted from the house. Step five: listen to the wisdom of others.
Here is where I invite you in: I'm crowd-sourcing -- how did you make your house a yell-free zone? I don't want to yell, I don't want my kids to yell. I don't want us to yell up the stairs when we need something done, to yell when someone doesn't do what they are asked/told, or to solve a problem. We are too frequently using a heavy tone or too much volume for these common problems.
I'm looking forward to a response -- preferably one with good experience or ideas attached.
