Yes, please.

So every morning I wake up with pretty much the same personal goals in mind: to write a little, to get some exercise, and to speak more nicely to my husband and kids.

Of these, I usually only manage to squeeze out the writing. I do walk Girlie to school, so we'll say that counts for the exercise, but in all fairness, it's a leisurely walk and sometimes there is coffee involved.

So that leaves the nice talk. Not sure if you are in the know, but word on the street is that yelling is the new spanking. Yelling causes irreparable damage to little psyches, underminds the foundation of self-esteem, blah, blah, blah. As for the marriage, yelling is like tossing a glass of wine at a candle. Boom, then pfft. There are more productive ways to communicate, I get it.

Problem is, when you have young kids in the house there are so many things worthy of a good old fashioned scream. Like who can't remember to flush? And the socks, the dirty socks, on the dining table. Why? Whhhhy? And you can't very well say the following words nicely: "Please for the love of God give me the scissors and go put your pants back on." As for the Hubs, it just bleeds over to him too. And I'm Italian, so there's that.

Which is why, in many ways as personal goals go, the writing is turning out to be the easiest. I have some control over it. It does what I say. It does not backtalk. I do on rare occasions cry over it, but I never ever yell. In fact, for the most part I am excessively polite to my stories. I say please and thank you.

So what to do about the rest of it? Deep breath, count to five before responding. Model the behavior I wish to receive from my family. Think before acting. Wear tennis shoes and walk to school a little faster.

It isn't rocket science, except when it is.