I scream, you scream..

I dont know about other parents of toddlers, but I find I am becoming a screamer. I read somewhere recently that this generation of parents have been termed the Generation of Screamers. I think it has something to do with our inability to deal with the frustration of trying to discipline without resorting to the threat of physical harm. And if you have a couple of stubborn, pig headed, and manipulative kids (and I say this with all my love) with a definite taste for adventure and theatrics, this is a challenge. I remember when I was a kid I used to get pinched..seriously pinched, by my parents if I even looked at them the wrong way..lets not go into throwing food into their faces/onto floor/onto other kids heads. If I broke something in the house..which I did often..although it was wholly the ball's fault..I got smacked. I dont recall them hitting me after that age..well, unless I was seriously and ridiculously bad. I never considered these forms of discipline to be "abuse" but then by the time I was old enough to be aware of this concept of abuse (probably by age 4) I feared my parents enough to know throwing anything was out of the question and if my Dad even looked at me a certain way I would drop/stop anything and everything I was doing..in a split second.I am not saying how they raised me was wrong, or right..it was just the way I was raised and I must say it probably worked for them. Now, as it is my turn to parent, I dont know what to do. I would never hit, smack, or physically touch them in anger..EVER. I find however the only option open to me is screaming....I scream when they run across the street without looking out for cars, I scream when they have massive fights and hit each other, I yell when they intentionally spread jam all over the silk carpets, I yell when they refuse to eat anything 3 days in a row...I just scream when I am so bloody tired and frustrated and I dont have the time to sit and rationalize with them when they are acting like horrible monsters. I was initially ashamed of my being the poster child for this Generation of Screamers..until I heard from my good neighbour that she finds herself screaming too..all the time. And we find that our kids are screaming at each other..but I guess on the upside...they are not hitting each other.