Yes, I Raise My Voice

Kensi’s getting to the age where she hits and/or bites. It wasn’t that big of a deal with Isabelle because we nipped that right away. With Kensi, she’s being a little more stubborn about giving it up. Also she loves to get into Ace’s dog food…as did Isabelle. So trying to teach her what to stay away from and what she can play with hasn’t always been easy. Some things she must not have cared enough to keep pushing because she’ll leave it alone right away. Other things, like Ace’s dog food, she’ll go back to it dozens of times before I can get her to leave it alone. I’ve read a lot of articles and blogs that say you should be telling them they shouldn’t do that in a calm, but assertive manner. I’m sorry, but my kids are 1 and 2…they don’t get calm and assertive. To them, if I’m down at their level talking calmly, then it’s a game and mommy is just being silly. I’m the type of parent that I parent similar to how my parents raised me. I don’t do everything they did, but I have adopted some things and some things have just surfaced as the way I parent. One of those ways is raising my voice to the girls. Now, don’t get your panties in a twist, I don’t sit there and scream and yell at them. I’d never do that to my kids so that they’re afraid of me. But I do raise my voice so they know I’m serious. Like when Izzy gets into a real tizzy and cant seem to calm down, I cant talk in a calm voice or she wont hear me. I have to snap her out of it so I say “hey!” louder than she’s yelling and crying. It usually snaps her out of it to where she can calm down again. Other times it’s where she has taken a toy away from Kensi and wont give it back no matter how many times I calmly tell her to. So I raise my voice and make it stern so she knows I mean business and that changes her tune pretty quick.
I know that my girls are people too and should be respected, but on the other side of that coin, they are my kids and I am their mother. They listen to me and do what I say. I’m old fashioned like that. I have to roll my eyes when I am told that I should ask their permission to change their diaper or wipe their face or anything like that. I don’t. I get in and do it. Not everyone parents or thinks like me, but that’s what I do and judging by how happy and how well behaved my daughters are, I’d say I’m doing a pretty damn good job!