I have a little issue I wanted to talk (vent) about....I was at Walmart last night and was walking along, quietly talking with my oldest son, and we hear this mom YELLING at her child...child is running away giggling...you know the scene. What I wonder is why do people do that?? Nobody wants to hear all of that! I am not judging her parenting skills or child...as some of you know I have a child with RAD and we know what bad behaviour in public looks like :0) ( Savannah is doing MUCH better these days, just in case you were wondering!) What I want to know is what makes people think it's OK to be so LOUD in public?? It changes the atmosphere and your experience when you have to hear a loud adult screaming at a child. My son quickly looked away, although I'm sure, as a child, he wanted to stare to see what was going on...and he tensed up. Not cool. There are ways to get your child's attention while in public (or at home!) without even saying a word! I have trained my kids to listen to me...but when they are out of line, I need to let them know....how we do this is.....I taught them that when they hear me QUIETLY clear my throat...I WILL HAVE ALL EYES ON ME....NOW! I then just simply make eye contact with the offender...they stop...life goes on. And NOBODY heard or knows anything at all happened! this leaves the people around us happy...the child happy as they were not just humiliated...and me happy because I just didn't fall into the sin of anger :0) Spread the word....you shouldn't yell at your kids in public (or at home!)....it makes an unwanted scene!!
You make a good point.
ReplyDeleteI think when the adult begins to get out of control, the child can sense this, and usually, the situation can just go from bad to worse. I can understand if the child was putting him or herself in immediate danger, and the parent got loud because they didn't want anything to happen to their child. However, it's quite another thing just to "be loud" on purpose without cause and/or just to be heard.
When I used to work with children at the pre-school and I "lost control," the child would just ignore me and/or get worse. However, when I was calm yet firm, they listened. They knew that I meant business and was not on a "hollering spree." From then on, I decided to be calm, yet firm, for the latter never worked.