With the title of this blog post, I am not referring to the dog. I’m referring to myself. I am taking some time to evaluate my parenting skills.

I love all of my kids. I have 6 of them. I am failing Eden though. Last night, I yelled at her. She was continuously disobeying me. I’d tell her to do something. She’d backtalk and do just the opposite. Eventually, I lost my temper, and I yelled at her. It would be more accurate to say that I screamed at her.

She is building a brick wall between herself and her parents. And every time I yell, it is like I am handing her bricks, or mortar, or giving her the trowel. All I am doing is creating resentment.

I was up late last night reflecting on all of my parenting decisions throughout the day. It was a trying day with the kids, and I made lots of mistakes. I can change, and as parents, we constantly need to accept our faults and try to improve on them. But, I am very worried about the emotional scars that Eden wears. Old Yeller has done some damage.

Eden does so many wonderful things. Last week, she cleaned the kitchen better than it has been cleaned in over a year. I don’t think I could have done such a good job. And then yesterday she spent hours making her Grammy a card and decorating it. She stuffed all kinds of surprise snowflakes inside the card. I am proud of her for all of these things.

However, my parenting was wrongly focused on the things that she was doing wrong, and not praising her for all of the things that she was doing so well. I am very worried that I am losing her. I need to do a better job today.