The Orange Rhino

A nationally published article, "16 Real Ways to Stop Yelling at Your Kids" has recently drawn more attention to Sheila McCraith, who launched her blog with the pseudonym the Orange Rhino and whose book is about to be published.

The Orange Rhino website is a wealth of information and inspiration to stop yelling at our children.

I am just one little mama, but I can attest that many more loving mothers shout, scream, and even call names to their children than admit doing so publicly. Plenty of deeply religious mothers have confessed to me privately, and me to them, our real failures. The Orange Rhino was one of those mothers until she got caught throwing her adult-sized tantrum by a workman in her home. Her shame of realizing she always behaved nicely toward her children in the presence of strangers but yelled at her kids daily in private inspired her to challenge herself to stop yelling . . . for good!

Yelling is not discipline, and our family is all about raising children with parental discipline until they mature enough to have self-discipline. No efforts to stop yelling are about being namby pamby, a weakling, or a permissive parent. In my humble opinion, with what I now see as only eight years of parenting experience, yelling is about exhibiting pride and egotism, a failure to die to self, viewing the child as more of a peer than a subordinate, and throwing an adult-sized tantrum.

See the Orange Rhino's revelations about yelling here: short and sweet and, in my opinion, true. See the basics of her challenge here. Read her alternatives to yelling here.

Then go delve through her blog (late at night or at the crack of dawn when the kids are asleep) and perhaps have a box of Kleenex nearby for those painful introspective moments. Perhaps go buy the book.

As always, please pray for me in this regard.

And let's stop yelling and start behaving like (1) Christian (2) adults!

Bonus Reading on a somewhat related topic: "Does Complaining Rob Us of Joy?"