*sigh*

I'm having difficulties with Avery. I'm starting to raise my voice at her and borderline yell. Okay, yell. This is not the way I want to handle things, but in the moment, that's the only thing that feels authoritative enough; yet, it still doesn't produce the desired results. In fact, now she's starting to do her own yelling and pointing fingers. I don't like her picking up this habit and I especially think its silly for a mother to yell back at her kids: "No! You do not yell at mommy like that! ... um... only mommy can yell like that.... uh... cause I'm in charge?" That's not really what I call being the bigger person and handling the situation- it usually makes me feel more helpless like I'm giving in to yelling. How do I handle this?

The only reason I ever get after her is when she is being too rough with Aspen, especially after we have repeatedly told her not to head-butt and hit (she thinks its only play). *sigh* I used to think I wasn't for spankings, but now I'm not so sure. I think she needs something quick and that gets the point across (I really don't think "okay you have to the count of 3 to stop abusing your baby sister or we're going to time out" seems right). I just don't want her to start giving spankings to her parents when we've not obeyed her... She wants to copy everything we do.