You will have seen her name on the blog many times before. Rachel Macy Stafford is an honest, thought provoking author who really makes me stop and reassess.

She has written an article ‘The Important Thing about yelling’ that will make you consider your next reaction to spilt cereal and consequential anger snaps.

Here is a small section of her article:

“…not an easy sentence to write. Nor is this an easy time in my life to relive because truth be told, I hated myself in those moments. What had become of me that I needed to scream at two precious little people who I loved more than life?

Let me tell you what had become of me.

My distractions

Excessive phone use, commitment overload, multiple page to-do lists, and the pursuit of perfection consumed me. And yelling at the people I loved was a direct result of the loss of control I was feeling in my life.

Inevitably, I had to fall apart somewhere. So I fell apart behind closed doors in the company of the people who meant the most to me.

Until one fateful day.

My oldest daughter had gotten on a stool and was reaching for something in the pantry when she accidently dumped an entire bag of rice on the floor. As a million tiny grains pelleted the floor like rain, my child’s eyes welled up with tears. And that’s when I saw it—the fear in her eyes as she braced herself for her mother’s tirade.

She’s scared of me, I thought with the most painful realization imaginable. My six-year-old child is scared of my reaction to her innocent mistake.

With deep sorrow, I realized that was not the mother I wanted my children to grow up with, nor was it how I wanted to live the rest of my life.”

Here is the link to the rest of the story. -> Hands Free Mama – ‘The Important Thing About Yelling‘

Have your little birdies become distractions in your otherwise busy life?

Read it. Share it. Change your reaction. For they are only little once,  what do you want your little birdies to remember?