YELLING silences your message. Speak quietly so your children can hear your words instead of just your voice.

Little eyes watch what we do far more than little ears hear what we say. It is how we live, not how we demand they live, that has the most impact on who our children will become.

Respond to your children with love intheir worst momentstheir broken momentstheir angry momentstheir selfish momentstheir lonely momentstheir frustrated momentstheir inconvenient momentsbecause it is in their mostunlovable human momentsthat they most need to feel loved.

Listen instead of lecture. Communicate instead of command. Relate instead of retaliate. Be flexible instead of being fixated on getting your own way. Seek to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. In short, behave the way you want your children to learn to behave.