yelling...

Sometimes I get so angry with my kids.  Never my proudest moments, but we mothers are only human right?  Please tell me you agreed with that!  So what do you do?  how do you stay calm and in control?  Should you?

I don't mean that in a 'should you get all rage on your kids' kinda way but is it ok to get angry and express it?  Anger is a normal human emotion, one we all have to deal with, one we need to learn to control and channel.

So I'm leaning toward, anger is ok to express but it needs to be righteous anger.  Justified and expressed well.  I don't always get this right, I know, but I am learning to recognize quickly when I am being irrationally angry.  That doesn't always mean right now that I catch it in time but learning to express anger right takes a little time and practice!

Ephesians 4:26
BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
(the whole context is good, check it out! http://nasb.scripturetext.com/ephesians/4.htm)

One of my favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle talks in her autobiography about her relationship with her husband.  She said one of the things they both had was a temper.  They yelled a lot, got angry and yelled.  For them she said that is was actually the best way of dealing with their anger, it got it out, in the open and spent.  Then they could move on.  Maybe this isn't your style, but the point is I think to get it out an deal with it.  Not hold it in until it turns into something bigger and nastier.

“Anger is not bitterness. Bitterness can go on eating at a man's heart and mind forever. Anger spends itself in its own time.” 
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Swiftly Tilting Planet

So go ahead an yell a little, just don't forget to say your sorry, kiss and move on.

I am learning to ask my kids for forgiveness a lot...maybe this will help with the therapy bill in the future :)