“I remember the first time I ever raised my voice to my son. He was about 8 or 9 months old, and I made a smoothie for myself. He, of course, wanted what I had, so I let him have a sip. While he was drinking it (mind you we were sitting in the middle of the living room on the carpet), he decided to take a HUGE sip and then spit it out, on purpose, all over the carpet.
"My gut reaction was to snatch the cup from him and just yell, ‘NO, do not spit on the floor!’ He immediately started to cry and cower, and it was then that I realized that he had never heard me yell at him before. I felt horrible at myself for making him feel that way and for THAT being the first time I ever yelled (especially when there were so many more and better reasons to yell that came later).
— Melissa Pew from Austin, Texas (Mom to 2-year-old and 4-year-old)