This is the effect that shouting has on your child’s mental health

Being a parent can be frustrating sometimes.

As hard as we try sometimes it's impossible to keep our cool. I will admit I've been guilty of losing my head and shouting at my children, and my parents definitely got fed up with me and did the same, but according to studies, this is one of the worst things you can do. Research by Healthline shows that shouting at your child not only doesn't stop them from misbehaving but may cause them to become volatile or even extremely anxious.  Yelling at your child has been deemed by many experts as emotional abuse and can be as damaging to your child's mental health as physical abuse. Raising your voice teaches your child to react to a situation that displeases them with anger and can lead to them becoming violent later in life. Shouting at your child also lowers their self-esteem and feelings of self-worth and makes them more susceptible to being targeted by bullies who can see this. All of these things have long-term effects that will follow our children into adult life and may cause them to feel depressed and worthless. I never realised the serious impact shouting could have on my children and I'm sure many other parents didn't either. Yelling is an instinctive reaction to a difficult situation for most of us, that happens so quickly in the heat of the moment it seems almost impossible to control. But you can. Giving yourself a timeout and walking away from what's frustrating you till you can deal with it calmly can help prevent us from giving in to anger. Calm but firm consequences, like taking away a toy your child threw at their sibling, is also a better method of dealing with bad behaviour rather than shouting. It's not always easy knowing how to deal with your child when they're driving you up the wall, but trying to keep your cool will pay off dividends when they're adults. We may want to pull out our hair sometimes but remaining calm in stressful situations teaches our children the correct way to deal with adversity.