What am I teaching them?

Today I had one of those golden parenting moments. One of those that I had imagined, that fell into my parenting ideal. I read aloud to the children while they played, and it was nice.

That Fancy Nancy... 

And then like that, it was over. They quickly lost interest and started being rough and wild with each other. And, after repeated warnings to stop kicking the furniture, pushing your brother, grabbing your sister, I lost it and yelled. 

Today, like yesterday, has been a rough parenting day.

Lots of not listening, being wild, making messes. Being children. And the yelling. Not so much their little voices, but mine. That loud, angry voice. That voice that sounds scary and on the verge of tears. 

I decided today to try to stop yelling. It's not helping, and my behavior is only teaching the kids that yelling is a perfectly reasonable way to communicate. It's not.

I think that the first step to changing your behavior is admitting you have a problem. Hi, my name is Kandace and I yell at my kids. I don't like it and I'm trying to change.

Do you yell more than you'd like?