Vocal Decorum

We have a rule in our house:  No yelling.  This is for several reasons.  First, The Shmunkin has trouble distinguishing between an inside and an outside voice.  Second, our house is quite small and there is no reason to yell to get someone's attention.  And, third, let's face it, there rarely a valid reason to yell.

Unfortunately, The Shmunkin, who, as I have mentioned in the past, has am amazingly loud voice.  It is remarkably loud for pretty much anyone.  The "amazingly" part comes from the fact that she is so small, and we can't figure out how it is such a little person is able to generate such amazing decibel levels.

The point is, we don't allow yelling, and try very hard to teach The Shmunkin proper social decorum.  To tt end, I no longer respond when she yells while I am in the bathroom getting ready for the day.  She could be doing her crafts or playing on the computer or even watching some program on TV, and her tendency, when she wants something, is to simply call our to me.  So we have instructed her that, if she wants me when I am getting ready, she must walk down to the bathroom and knock on the door, at which point I will tell her to come in and ask what she wants.

Of course, that's not the way it actually happens.  What actually happens is she will yell, I will open the door and say, "What is the rule if you want me?", and she will walk down, know on the door and tell me what she wants.  Grudgingly, but she does it.

It happened again this morning.  She was playing on the computer (PBS Kids is a great site for kids, by the way.) and wanted me, so she started yelling.  I called out like normal, then listened to see what happened.  Instead of the normal footsteps and knock on the door, I heard STOMP... STOMP... STOMP... STOMP, then, "I'm outside the door."

I opened the door, and there stood this little Chinese girl, arms crossed in front of her and a grumpy frown on her face.  I think if she could have balanced properly, she would have been tapping her foot in anger.

"We need to change that rule."

"What rule needs to be changed."

"The one where I have to come down and know on the door."

"What do you think we should do, instead."

"We should change the rule back to yelling."

We'll think about that.

Comments

[Joe, Jane, Jia and Willa]

We have that same rule! Without it Jia just sits wherever she is and screams non-stop.

It was great the other day at playgroup because I heard Jia tell another kid, "WE DO NOT YELL IN THIS HOUSE!" She yelled it at him, of course.