I think we need a whole-family version of that no-yelling-for-a-week challenge I did last spring. It’s been a really loud couple of weeks around here. Someone whines, someone else screams, and then a third person yells to be heard over the din…oy.

Despite all that, we actually had one incident when yelling really got the job done. Last week when I was picking up the kids after school, Brayden found me before Justin did, and I told Brayden not to run off because we had to get to an appointment as soon as Justin came out. Brayden got huffy about not being allowed to play — and promptly took off for the opposite end of the school field.

By the time Justin came out, Brayden was hundreds of yards away and not paying me the slightest attention. I was so steamed — we were meeting someone at 2:45, and this was 2:40 — that I very nearly left without him. Instead, I tracked him down and unleashed a tirade like I haven’t done in months. He cried, and apologized, and now he comes as soon as I call him. Lesson learned…but does the end justify the means?

How bad of a mother am I?