Like many others who have written, I'm so glad this thread exists. GD is one of my failings as a parent who aspires to be AP, and I'm trying very hard to change--this thread gives me encouragement and support.
One of the only things I have going for me is that my eldest is only 3 and a half, and I have the opportunity to make Yelling Mom a hazy and distant memory for him, and hopefully not leave much of a dent in Baby's consciousness.
It's hard though. I was brought up to believe yelling is something someone does who cares about you. But I think it's ugly and damaging to a child's soul. So I am very keen to un-train myself of this force of habit.
I tried the talking to myself thing and it worked reasonably well. The only time I snapped was [predictably during dinner preparation] when ds wanted to know the full possible consequences in gory detail of what COULD happen if he pulled on me and the backpacked baby while I was using the sharpest knife in the house, ending as usual with "And will you die?" This newfound fascination of his on death, and how many ways one can "get dead" is totally disturbing to me, and as usual when I am at a loss and fearing I will contribute in some way to his mental deformation, I cope by shouting at him. Brilliant, aren't I?
. I had a newborn, 3 and 5 year old not so long ago and was so very overwhelmed and short tempered. Now my children are 6, almost 4 and 10 months and life has really calmed down. Things are running smoothly again and I am much better able to control my temper since I don't feel like the whole house is crazy and out of control.
