Shouting

My daughter was initially not so keen on her new teacher. “She shouts a lot” she would tell me. “We could hear her shouting last year from our classroom” I was told. Now Avril is not a child teachers tend to shout at much. She tends to be well behaved, but not as much as her brother who has come home with so many behaviour awards lately that as well as asking him for his lunchbox when he comes in, we ask him where today’s awards are. But like me she daydreams a lot and I imagine the odd shout to bring her back is required.

When we first got word of this new teacher I would tell people (jokingly) that it is because we never shout at our four. Whether they think it’s because they are so well behaved, or because we are bad parents so laid back, I don’t know. But it set me thinking on how much we shout at our children.

I often make a concerted effort not to shout. I walk to the bottom of the stairs and call up instead of shouting from the living room. I speak to them calmly instead of shouting at them to do something.

From my own childhood experiences I believe shouting should be used sparingly. If you always shout, it no longer becomes shouting, it simply becomes your normal tone.

But then there are times when I have seen parents act calm when I want to shout at their children. If little Tommy is still kicking the waitress after being asked not to, then will somebody PLEASE take the child and shout at him to stop. PLEASE!! Asking nicely sure isn’t working.

Do you shout more than you would like to? Or do you successfully parent without shouting?