I have a confession to make: I am a recovering yeller. I used to yell. A lot. I was raised by a couple of yellers, all my siblings are yellers, and though I desperately try to stop, and am horribly ashamed of the fact, that I do yell at my children. Not all the time, and it might only be things like ‘Hurry up you’ll be late for school’ and it’s never abusive, but that’s not the point. I detest yelling and I detest even more that I do it. When I’m tired or stressed, it’s my go to response.
Last year I stumbled across an Orange Rhino in my Facebook feed and this simple idea has propelled me on a journey to give yelling the boot. Whilst pregnant with Master 7 months I undertook the 30 Day Orange Rhino challenge and I found myself evaluating my yelling in terms of when, and why I was doing it and how I could undertake strategies to stop yelling. But, I hear you asking, what is the significance of the Orange Rhino? Well, I’ll let the Orange Rhino tell you herself:
It all started Friday, January 20, 2012. After our handyman busted me yelling at my 4 boys, I had an epiphany; I yell at my kids much more than I like. The next day I committed to going 365 days without yelling. And to boot, I decided to keep a public blog to help keep me on task. A few days later, my 5 year old was yelling at me for something I did wrong, again. I calmly said, “Now, if mommy can’t yell what does that mean for you?” Finger in nose, he looked me right in the eyes and replied: “I can’t yell…but I can still pick my nose!” Awesome. Purely awesome. My son’s response was honest and witty, exactly the tone I hope to embrace in this blog. It was the perfect byline I had been searching for all week. With the by-line done, the rest fell right into place. I have decided, at least for now, to be anonymous to protect my children’s privacy. So I needed a moniker. I typed “nose” into Google and “Rhino” popped up as the Greek meaning. I could be a Rhino. Rhinos are strong and cool, right? This was promising. Further research about Rhinos confirmed that I was already, indeed, a Rhino. Rhinos are tenacious and vigorous animals who are naturally peaceful, but display aggressive behavior when provoked. Wow. That’s me alright, minus the vigorous piece. I definitely don’t have the mental strength or energy. If I did, I wouldn’t let myself charge with my “words” so frequently! I am totally a Rhino. But I don’t want to be aggressive; I want to lose that and gain the vigorous part. I need more warmth and energy. Clearly, I need a little more of the color Orange in my life especially since it also conjures up feelings of determination which I am most definitely going to need more of in order to conquer this challenge. So there you have it. I want to be The Orange Rhino. I want to be a mom who has the energy and determination to forge ahead and parent with more composure and warmth and without the yelling!Winner of 2013 PARENTS Magazine Blog most likely to help you achieve a goal award, I highly recommend following this blog and her Facebook page if you have ever struggled with yelling! She also has a book available called: ‘Yell Less, love more’ which I hope to review soon!
Originally posted 2014-10-14 22:46:19.