11.10.2010

Keeping the Peace

November 10, 2010

So, yesterday, I was privy to an interaction between my oldest son and my youngest daughter. He was barking at her for something or other, being very rude and angry. I have recently read "The Duggars 20 and Counting" and in it Michelle mentioned something about lowering her voice instead of raising it when correcting her children. I thought, I am gonna give this a try. I have been working on how they talk to each other for quite some time. So, I called Drake to me and VERY quietly I talked whispered to him about how he should speak to his sister. I told him to loosen his face muscles to release the anger & frustration. So, we did exercises to shake out our faces and loosen them into a relaxed state of smiling. And when we changed our faces from tight, angry things to loose, smiling laughing things our moods lightened immediately and drastically. It was much harder to be stern and upset once we'd released the tension in our faces.

Now, the trick is to put and keep this in practice daily. This is going to be a challenge for me, to put it mildly. It is so easy to lose my temper when I am trying to get school done or supper or whatever it is that I'm working on and I turn around to see that one my of lovely children (Aubree) has dumped a full bowl of cereal and milk onto the floor or has unrolled the toilet paper or has climbed on top of her dresser (again!). It is going to take a LOT of self control to lower my voice instead of raise it. But, I can imagine what the results of success would be. It would be wonderful to have a house where no one screams at each other on a regular basis. I would love to live among people who are respectful to each other and treat each other kindly. Oh glorious day!

So, if you happen to walk up to me and my little family and we are shaking our heads as if we are having convulsions DON'T call 9-1-1 (at least not right away)! It's probably only our meager attempt to keep the peace!

"Turn away from evil and do good. Work hard at living in peace with others." Psalm 34:14

2 comments:

Tammy said...

Very good. Okay, Okay i'll give it a whirl. :)

Wendy said...

This is something I need to try!!