Parenting Tips For Keeping Your Cool and Shouting Less

By Lily Campbell

What makes a good parenting style really is down to the individual personalities of the parents and the children, and their personal circumstances. Although it is not possible to be the perfect mum or dad all the time it is possible to make small changes to become a better parent. Something that many parents would love to achieve is to shout less at their children, be more relaxed with them and have more fun.

Children are experts at triggering a reaction from their parents so it can be hard not to react by shouting sometimes, particularly if there additional stresses going on at the time. There are two approaches which help a lot of people. The first is to imagine that there are strangers watching you interact with your child.

Even if the child is behaving extremely badly, we tend to force ourselves to keep our cool if we are in public where as at home parents are much quicker to shout. Or if you are used to working in a professional environment, put your work mask on and act in the same rational and diplomatic manner as you would in the office. The second approach is to simply turn away and count to ten before responding to your child's behaviour.

It can help to identify the main triggers that lead to you using your temper. For instance, parents are more likely to shout if they are already stressed. So if you find yourself regularly shouting at the children to get their shoes and coats on as you run late for the school run then take steps to become more organised and save time in the mornings, such as making packed lunches the night before and storing all school bags in the same place.

Lastly, remember that you are only human and it is okay to lose your temper sometimes. If you feel that shouting was an over reaction to the situation, apologise to your child. It will not affect your child's view of you as an authority figure to know you are not perfect, and it is a good example to say you are sorry if you know you have behaved wrongly.

Lily has recently had articles published on the subject of boy's fancy dress, on topics such as making your own boy's cowboy costume at home.

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