When my brothers and I were kids, my mother had this saying that she’d use whenever we were impatient, stubborn, or whiny: “When God was handing out [insert frustrating behavior], you were first in line.” It usually garnered a shrug, smirk, or eye roll from my brothers and me. Now that I have my own children, I find this phrase running through my mind multiple times a day.
When my children were being molded, they were given a robust set of lungs that they use recklessly. After their stubbornness, their scream is their biggest…asset, I guess. Their favorite time to scream is…well, any time, really. For this post, I’ll focus on whenever we have to take something from them, either because they refuse to share, they’ve done something wrong, or it’s time for bed.
One minute everyone’s cool, then the fighting starts. Once my husband and I go in to intervene then, the screaming starts. You would like that we’d tied them to a chair, and we’re pulling their fingernails out with a pair of pliers. Sometimes I look at them and think, “What is this? Why does taking a toy amount to a torture session for me?”
Depending on how close to the end of my rope I’m feeling, I start screaming right along with them. The first time I did this with my older son — who will now be referred to as C — he had shock written all over his face. It was palpable. I stopped screaming about a second after he did. We stared at each other for five seconds, and then he busted out with the biggest fit of laughing I’d ever seen. He laughed so much that he fell over. And I couldn’t help but laugh as well.
Sometimes now, we just scream with each other for the heck of it. Once my younger son — who will forever be referred to as J — caught on to our game (after looking at C and me like we were nut jobs), he joined in too.
This little cathartic screaming game does not always stop them from screaming like bloody murder when they don’t get their way. At least diffusing the situation can be stress-relieving for me too.
The Saucy Mama 
