Today I woke up and tried to speak and nothing came out. I've had laryngitis before but never like this. It's been a whole day and I still can't talk. In the past it's only lasted and few hours and then my voice is back. It was so sad when I tucked Noah into be and he wanted me to sing him a song and I just couldn't. I don't think he really understood. I just kept telling him that mommy's voice is broken today.
Over the course of the day, I noticed that Noah's behavior changed becuase I wasn't able to talk to him. If I needed to tell him something I'd get down to his level and whisper to him. He was almost more responsive to this than my usual tone. I try very hard not to yell but I definitely have a tone I use when I'm being firm with him. I simply could not do that today.
The other thing I noticed was that he also spoke more quietly. He likes to talk really loud at the dinner table and we are constantly telling him to quiet down and he rarely listens. At tonight's dinner it was very quiet because I was only speaking in whispers. Noah didn't feel the need to talk so loudly. There might be some benefit in speaking softly with children.
It's not a coincidence that parents who yell at their children tend to have very loud children. However, I never thought that if I spent an entire day whispering that it would cause such a dramatic change in the overall noise level of my home. When I do regain my voice perhaps I'll try to speak more quietly to my children.
5 comments:
what an observation! im glad i didnt have to lose my voice, but i will try that. i also try VERY hard not to ever yell, because i dont want a house full of yellers myself, and yelling really doesn't get anybody anywhere.. and as a sub teacher i was taught to speak extra quietly if you want kids to listen better, but i forgot all about that... good advice there.
What a great observation.
HaHa that is funny but so true! People who have kids that are sweet and mild are usually sweet and mild themselves. Unfortunately I am kinda loud and energetic so I guess I will have to work with what I get instead of waiting for the sweet mild child!
I remember when my first child was born I told myself I would try never to yell unless my children were in danger of getting hurt, so that they wouldn't learn to tune out my yelling. I often have a hard time remembering that after the sixth time I've told them to pick up toy or put their shoes on...but I have noticed that when my volume goes up, theirs usually does too. Thanks for the reminder!
Maybe it would help for us all to have laryngitis everyonce in a while.
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