Old Yeller

As much as we'd all like to be the perfect mother, we all have our moments when we're not at our best. Being the mother of 3 very young children, I totally get it. Today, my 3 year old daughter fell down and scraped her knee while playing outside. She started yelling and screaming at her younger sister that it was all her fault that she fell and got hurt; despite the fact that they were clear across the yard from each other. And my reaction? Instead of cuddling my little girl, kissing her knee, and telling her it would be alright, I started yelling at her to stop yelling at her sister. Hmmmm, ooops.
Remember how actions speak louder than words, Karyn?
Oh yeah.

Then, 10 or 15 minutes later, the younger girl, who is only 18 months old, snuck out of our yard into the neighbor's yard; something all my kids know is a big "no-no!"
Once again, my reaction was not as it should have been.
Since I was inside nursing my 2 month old baby boy, and was unable to run outside after her, I screamed as loud as i could from my kitchen that she had better get her little tush back in our yard now!

How often do I react this way? It doesn't matter really....it's just too much. How can I be a happy mom if I can't control my anger more appropriately? My own personal goal is to stop yelling completely. I had a 5th grade teacher once who did nothing but yell, yell, yell all the time. The end result? We all hated her, and gave her little respect. You're all probably better than me in this area. But, that's why it is the confession page!

~Karyn