Imagine your house was flooding with tsunami-sized waves and your kids were running for their lives. Your husband is ahead of you picking up the kids turning back with intense look of fear all over his face. They are all running for the door.
We’ve never had a flood like that. I’ve just seen these faces of fear.
Because I have been the tsunami tearing through our home. And they are running for safe ground away from my bad mood or far away from the wrath of the clean-up monster.
It’s so horrific I am admitting this to you today, because I am supposed to be the queen of fun and great moods. I have struggled with my moods. I do love a fun home, but little things can certainly set me off and I have to fight against my normal self. I do not want those kids to fear me or anything in our home.
I must be the grown up – the one to break the bad mood cycle. It often starts with me and ripples through each person. So, what if I chose to break it and infuse joy and laughter?
10 Ways to Break a Bad Mood Cycle
Here are a few ways I’ve found to give our household an infusion of joy.
- Pray and Breathe. It sounds simple, but sometimes we just need a redo or restart.
- Tickle Attack. No matter the age of the people in your home, a sudden tickle attacks makes any home erupt with laughter.
- Cuddle Up and Read a Book. Take turns with a timer if you have multiple kids.
- Friend Refresher. Text a friend. Walk with a friend. Or even coffee with a friend. Get around joyful people.
- Dance Party. Burn a CD of your go-to tunes to have on call for when moods start to spiral down.
- Encourage Someone. Loving on others takes the focus off us and replaces crankiness with compassion.
- Change Scenes. We often jump in the car for a sweet-tea run for mom or walk to a playground to get our smiles going.
- Funny Photos. Our family loves to take funny photos together or play with the photo booth feature on my computer.
- Play. Crazy concept, but making time to play with our children or style is a surefire joy-starter.
- Listen. I take turns asking my kids questions from silly to insightful. (What made you happy? What would you do if…?)
I am thankful for progress in this area and for prayer. I am thankful for grace, mercy and forgiveness. And for the joy that comes from the choosing to break the bad mood cycle.
How do you break the bad mood cycle in your home?
Check out this FUN image my friend Jennifer of Tales of a Peanut created. She is the writer of “Teaching Your Daughter to Handle Girl Drama” that you have loved. And graciously made this for me. She is putting up in her office so she remembers! PDF file to print here.10 Ways to Break a Bad Mood Cycle
Make sure you have your copy of In This House, We Will Giggle. We are focusing on a virtue a month. Starting with JOY in JANUARY!
