CLEVELAND — With the kids home for the summer, you might be spending a lot more quality time together. Sometimes, however, those wonderful family moments take a turn and then you become the “yelling parent.” We all yell the same phrases, like "stop crying" or "what were you thinking" But in today's Mom Squad, Dr. Kim Bell with the Hanna Perkins Center gives parents some advice to "say this, not that."
“Kids have knocked something over and now there's a red juice stain on something white, that would be a great time to say something like that, right?" says Bell. “And I think it's up to the adult to be able to take a deep breath, because you aren't going to come up with the right thing to say in that moment. You just aren't.”
Bell says it’s best for the parent to say “I need a moment” and walk away.
“And I think when it comes to things like 'what’s wrong with you?' at that moment it's better to say nothing. Just nothing at all until you calm down and then you can have the conversation, right?”
Dr. Kim Bell and 3News' Maureen Kyle go through some of the most common phrases and scenarios parents find themselves in and talk about how to manage the situation better. You can download the Mom Squad Pod anywhere you get your podcasts. Or you can watch the YouTube link on our WKYC page.
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Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous edition of Mom Squad on June 14, 2022.