Lynda Loveland: Stop yelling! - the finale

I picked a bad day to start. It just happened to be the night of the holiday celebration at my kids’ school. Since my husband had to work late, I had to take all three of ‘em by myself to eat, craft and play in the halls of the elementary school. The place was packed with parents and kids running amok. At one point a friend said to me, “Oh, I see you paired down tonight with just two kids.” Yeah, that was my reaction too.

Surprisingly, since I went in with the attitude of not yelling, I had a pretty good time. I wasn’t going to be uptight. I was just going to stand back and watch the kids. I had more laughs that night than I’ve had in a while. I mean, out loud, people looking at me like I’m nuts, laughter.

Fueled by my success, I was determined to make it through the next six days at low volume. I had to catch myself a couple of times and pause to regain my decibel level, but I did it. Almost.

I had to take a mulligan on day five. I told my daughter four times to put down her DS and take the pup outside. She didn’t. The pup puddled. And I crumbled.

I quickly hopped back on the non-booming bandwagon and I have to say, it’s made a difference. Things just seem more peaceful. And that’s a beautiful thing.