CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) – According to studies in the workplace
and at home, we are a nation of yellers. That’s not because we
are all at the game cheering our favorite team, only to wake up
hoarse. We apparently are yelling in anger, in frustration,
distressed as a way of communicating – and venting. A few years
ago, researchers asked a thousand families about yelling and
found that 88 percent of parents admitted yelling, screaming or
shouting at their children during the year. In families with
7-year-old kids, that number climbed to nearly 100 percent.
Yelling. Shouting. Screaming. Railing. Wailing. Howling.
Regardless of what we call it, raising our voices is exhausting.
Especially if it becomes our reaction to stressors. Not only
does it take a physical and emotional toll on the yeller, it
affects those on the receiving end of this high-decibel stress.
Children’s brains are so sensitive to yelling that a child who
is yelled at regularly, say, at bedtime or before school (or at
school) can become “immune” a