A Year of No Yelling Day 23 Featuring the All Knowing Glenda The Good Witch and Choose Love

I had a great start to the day. I woke up after sleeping all night (!) and had energy. I'm almost recovered from my sickness. I can face the day!

I started out by announcing aloud today would be ano-yelling, no-sugar day. This is when I noticed my voice was half-gone. Huh. A horse voice might make yelling difficult. How promising.

Next, I snuggled with Alexa. I gave her a back rub and lots of kisses. I held Ash's hand during family scriptures.

After Ash was off to school, Drek was off to work and Tabs was down for her nap Alexa and I played "Wizard of Oz", her favorite game. She was Glenda, I was Dorothy.  In the middle of it she announced to me "I know ALL, Mama. The whole world. I know all. She might have been in character, but I don't think so.

Several stressful situation arose today, but I am happy to report I whispered through every one of them. I thought, for one exciting second, that whispering instead of yelling was becoming a habit, but then I realized it was more likely that my horse voice just makes is seem that way.

So whispering might not be a habit yet, but I'll get there. I did use every situation today as a teaching moment, and I am proud of myself. I did some good parenting today.

I'm ever more proud of myself because at about noon, I was hit with depression. Not sure why, but there it was. I still kept my cool and had some great teaching moments.

I came across this article with steps to take when trying to stop the habit of yelling. There were two steps I really loved: The first one is "Realize that your #1 job as a parent (after safety) is to manage your own emotions."
That struck truth with me. I really think that if I can manage my own emotions and can communicate clearly and effectively that my kids will too just because kids are such good mimics.

The second one is "Find your own wisdom. . . . imagine there's an angel on your shoulder who sees things objectively and wants what's best for everyone in the situation. This is your own personal parenting coach. What does she say? Can she give you a mantra to see things differently, like:  "Choose love.""

I love it. "Choose love." I'm going to make that my mantra.