The Art of Not Yelling

I came across a blog called the Orange Rhino yesterday. The ideas presented there caught my attention. Lately it seems that everyone yells at everyone else all of the time. Even my mostly mild mannered James has started to yell at his sisters. And most of the time the yelling is over something very insignificant, but turns into a full blown yelling match and even at time turns physical between the children. I have tried to not yell, to keep calm, but when my children push and push and continue to disobey me, I quickly lose my temper and resort to yelling. I feel like it is the only way to get them to hear me and finally get a response out of them. I hate it. I hate the feeling in the house after. I then say things like "why do they have to push me to my breaking point? Why do they make me yell at them to get them to do such and such?" But in reality, I know that it is I that has chosen to yell.
Enough is enough. Today it stops. At least for me. And hopefully by example it will spill over to the rest of the family. Next Monday for FHE I will present the plan to the family. On the Orange Rhino Blog there is a list of 100 alternatives to yelling, so I will print that out and post it in the house somewhere. We will talk about these alternatives and ways that we can help each other to stop the negative yelling and start with the positive talking. The Orange Rhino even has a "yelling meter" to help you through. I plan to put Orange Rhinos up all over the house as a reminder to all of us to stop the yelling. I know this isn't going to be easy. I now it will probably take longer for it to catch on with the kids, but wouldn't be nice if we could eliminate yelling? I think it is doable and only good can come from trying. So today I vow to stop the yelling. I am taking the Orange Rhino Challenge for myself, and taking the whole family along with me, whether they like it or not.