Don't Yell at Your Kids - Project Your Voice Instead and Watch Their Reaction!

Do you know what the difference is between yelling and projection? In the former situation, your voice is being powered solely by means of your throat and voice box. It is a loud sound that hurts your listeners' ears. If done frequently, yelling can cause major damage to your vocal folds (cords) and leave you with a sore throat, chronic hoarseness, or even loss of voice by the end of the day.

Projection, on the other hand, is a large voice in which your sound is being powered by your chest cavity. It does not hurt your listeners' ears; it will not leave you hoarse; and, it takes much less energy to project your voice than it does to yell.

Another major difference between yelling and projection is that your children do not listen to you when you yell at them; but, they will take notice when you begin projecting your voice instead. Projection requires control, yelling does not.

During my presentations when I discuss projection, I always remark that I never yelled at my children, I projected. As a 'single' married mom, I did not have the luxury of telling my kids to, "just wait until your father gets home," because their dad was away for 11 months of the year. If I wanted my boys to behave, it was up to me to do it. And, it worked. When I told them to stop misbehaving, they paid attention. They obeyed my orders and I remained in control.

It was, however, interesting to watch other parents shouting or yelling at their children in vain. The results were demoralizing. When you increase your volume in this manner, you have 'lost it.' And, kids know it. While some children may cower in fear at hearing you yell, more often than not, most will just ignore your words or your threats. To add insult to injury, our children learn from us. If you yell, they will yell.

When you can learn how to use your chest to amplify your voice instead of just your throat and voice box, you will immediately put an end to your vocal abuse, you will no longer cause pain to your children's ears (or any other listener for that matter), and you will have the upper hand. An added bonus is that you will be able to root for your favorite team for 3 hours and still have a voice when the game is over!

About the Author:

The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. Visit Voice Dynamic and watch Nancy as she describes Your Volume Control.