The Whisper Challenge
If you have a traveling spouse and a few kids (or one...one is hard) ....or you are single parenting.....chances are you hit survival mode at some point on their trip away....or once a week as you love your kids solo. Rob has been doing some traveling this past month and it.....blows. Let's just be real. The most kids we have ever had and the most traveling he has ever done. Sigh. Recently my staff team I work for took our StrengthsFinders test to see what our top five strengths are. Competition showed up in my top five. One of the phrases reads: You thrive on contests and challenges.
Bring it.
Having my husband away for four days is a serious challenge. And so is not losing my temper...but that's not just traveling...that's just in life. Keeping peace and calm and a low, whisper voice when my temperature is rising is a daily contest. And I want to win.
This week I installed The Whisper Challenge for my older two and myself. When you feel yourself starting to get frustrated and you want to yell to get attention or to get your toy back or to just let off steam.....whisper. I dare you.
This, dear readers, has been purifying, sanctifying and humbling...however you want to slice it. But actually really fun to have a contest going on in my home to keep learning how to deal with a situation that does not need a raised voice. Only when real danger is happening may we yell to get attention. (No, danger is NOT a lego jet being snagged from your lego city)
Whispering has actually gotten their attention quite well and doesn't scare the baby, either. And the challenge has caused me to stop, think, and then choose a very soft, low voice - it has given me something to focus on besides the anger rising on hand. (Let's face it, I want to win at this) Robby has been following suit. Olive likes games in general...so she's trying it...mostly. I am pretty amazed at how well it's working.
May your voice be soft, your posture kind and your heart humbled when you have hit survival mode.
Also....I'll take any other tricks of the trade for the traveling/single parent family......