The Long-lasting Effects Of Yelling At Toddlers

Toddlers can make even the calmest parent yell. At this stage of development, kids begin to explore their environment and push boundaries. The kids learn to talk and sometimes talk back at you when you correct a mistake. You may have to correct a mistake several times before the toddler stops the behavior. Realize that your child can read your emotions and actions. The child knows what to expect after a certain action as long as you remain consistent.

Yelling at toddlers sometimes comes automatically when a parent is frustrated. For instance, the child may resume a risky activity even after a stern warning to stop.

Parents start yelling even before they can think of an alternative way of dealing with bad behavior.

Unfortunately, yelling can become a habit that is hard to break. If you have raised several kids with this corrective measure, you need patience and commitment to learning new parenting skills.

The good news is that even the worst of habits can be broken. You can adopt new disciplinary methods while the child is still young.

Kids adjust fast to change. Perhaps the discussion on the long-term effects of yelling on kids will motivate you to break this habit.

The Effects Of Yelling At Toddlers

1. It Makes Bad Behavior Worse

Your intention when shouting at a child is to make the child stop the bad behavior immediately.

You imagine that the stern warning or loud voice will make them fear to repeat the same mistake.

Unfortunately, yelling does the opposite. You will have to shout louder in the future to correct the same mistakes.

The bad behavior may persist from toddlerhood to teenage. The child gets used to your loud voice and continues to behave the same way.

In fact, sometimes kids do the wrong thing to provoke you. Just look back and see if the behavior you have been trying to correct with yelling is still there.

It does not matter whether it is the mother or father yelling at toddlers because the outcome is the same.

2. Yelling Affects The Child’s Emotional Health

Some toddlers respond to yelling by becoming more aggressive or deviant. However, some are deeply hurt by such treatment to the extent that they may develop depression.

Is your child depressed? Have you noted any withdrawal signs or loss of interest in activities that the child enjoyed before? Is the child still social or does the child spend most of the time indoors?

Parents sometimes hurt their children unknowingly. You may be doing your best to raise your child but you must check for any negative effects of your behavior.

If you note any signs of depression, begin to build a new relationship with the toddlers. Your child may be acting out because the child lacks control of the bad emotions that have piled over time.

Seek professional counseling if you cannot handle emotional issues in your child at home.

3. It Has Negative Effects On Physical Health

Did you know that yelling at toddlers could lead to physical pain in the future? Signs of poor mental health may show in the short-term.

You can note anxiety, irritability, stress, or depression fast. Your child might also become restless when you are around or fear to be around you. However, the effects of physical health take time to manifest.

Shouting at kids has been linked to chronic pain and other physical complication such as arthritis, headaches, neck pains, and back pains.

Constant verbal abuse increases the risk of a child developing health complications in their adult years. You do not want to set your child on a path of battling chronic illnesses.

4. Yelling Crashes The Child’s Self Esteem


Parents dream of bringing up bright and confident children who lead their peers in all aspects including education.

You are worried whenever a child cannot communicate properly or associate with other kids.

Yelling at toddlers will frustrate your time and efforts in building your child’s esteem. Kids feel inferior and unwanted when their parents raise their voice all the time.

Do not mistake the constant bad behavior like hitting, tantrums, or even talking back for personal confidence.

Your child’s esteem sinks lower whenever you yell. A child already knows of the limitations in controlling the environment.

However, they try to break rules to see if they can get their way or set new boundaries. If you dream of children with healthy esteem, start exploring alternative ways of correcting them.

5. Yelling Interferes With Brain Development

Here is another effect that every parent should be worried about when disciplining kids. The human brain is designed to process negative information faster than positive information.

If you are yelling all the time, your child’s brain will focus on the negative events and emotions.

Doctors have proved that verbal abuse interferes with the physical development of the parts of the brain that process language and sounds.

Your child may have problems learning languages and sounds at school if you fail to change your parenting approach.

Every part of your child’s brain is important. Remember that the brain controls all the functions in the body.

You do not want to raise a child whose brain malfunctions or fails to control some processes properly. We emphasize again that these physical effects may not be immediate.

You can yell every day and the child seems to develop normally. However, the effects will begin to manifest in their teenage and adulthood.

Concluding Remarks

The power to change your parenting approach lies with you. Change requires the determination to learn new parenting skills and implement them immediately.

It will also take time before you can master alternatives to yelling at toddlers. You may stop yelling but the bad behavior persists.

Your part is to adopt the right parenting approach. Give your kids time to understand the new disciplinary measures. Toddlers outgrow some of the bad behaviors they pick as they develop.

Do not allow their curiosity and minor mistakes to push you to yell given the long-lasting effects outlined above.



Other Helpful Articles