Family & Environment

How do I control my raised voice with my children?

Jeel al-Khilafah

The question

I have three small children very close in age. Lately my voice has become raised and I am very bothered by this. Honestly I don't know how to control it.

Our answer

First, place one matter clearly in your mind: raising your voice changes nothing. It may create agitation and tension in the home. So get yourself used to forbearance and calm. You are the educator, and also to preserve your standing. The wise mother — at a single look her children know she is displeased and they comply. She doesn't need to raise her voice. But this comes through forbearance and wise dealing: making them understand their mistakes and what is a red line and what you do not accept, so they grasp it and refine their behaviour with uprightness and good response.

I advise you to strengthen your heart with the Qur'an. Read more of the Qur'an and dhikr — they bring tranquility and forbearance to the soul. Maintain your wudu as much as possible. Learn to separate the moment of tarbiyah from your tired or exhausted state. You are on the front of tarbiyah, and this front requires invoking the sense of trust, duty, and means.

Matters are resolved first by minimizing what happens. Don't magnify their behaviours in your mind to the point that they affect you in your body. In the end, however their mistakes may be, they are in the stage of being raised, and everything is corrected by advice, guidance, intimidation and encouragement — without reactivity or raising the voice.

Call the child who has erred and speak with him as if he were mature. Ask him for a promise not to repeat it or to act better. In this way you build a beautiful relationship with them and spare yourself the burden of tension. May Allah grant you success, open the way for you, and support you.

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