please help us stop the shouting!

[dustycups]

we have 5 children and weare exhausted by the constant shoutng above each other/ at each other. me and my partner are both guilty of shouting too, but work out how to tell them to stop shouting without shouting above them.
does anyone have any ideas on how to quieten our house down a bit please

[Thinkingof4]

What ages are they?
My 3 are all pre- school and if they are getting too noisy I turf them all outside into garden for some fresh air which seems to calm things down.
Not sure if that works with older ones
Do you tend to shout at them much? I find if I am having a bad day and shouting a lot then the boys shout more too.
When I am calm it does tend to help iyswim!!!

Not sure if that helps but didn't want you to go unanswered

[DrownedGirl]

Please tell me the answer!

[LongStory]

I didn't realise quite how noisy we all were until we went to stay on a camping/caravan park. Oh the shame!!! Anyhow we have been making an effort at this for a while and some of this might be helpful....

I try to keep background noise (radio, tv) to a minimum and turned down low. Also I deliberately speak quite quietly to offer nice things so only those who are tuned in and not shouting get the chocolates! If someone shouts at me I deliberately ignore it and say that I can only hear children who are speaking in polite quiet voices (good approach to adopt with my husband as well).

We have 5 inc toddler twins. Of course it gets noisy and horrid sometimes but the kids have worked out that I wishdraw then and refuse to engage. In extremis I have been known to exit the house quite dramatically, going for a drive or taking my meal to eat in peace in another room.

[mumblemumhome4lunch]

Oh dustycups, I feel for you and I came on here today to post much the same thing.

I'm guilty of too mucvh shouting and they are def worse when DH and I shout too but it's a vicious circle that I'm struggling to break. WE have 4 DC at 6mths, 2.5, almost 5 and 6.5 so it's going to be a loud house at the best of times. But our shouting has got so bad we sometimes end up with 2 or 3 of us in tears

One of my biggest problems is that DH thinks the only way to 'be firm' with them is to shout 'then they know your being serious'. so if anyone has any tips on how I deal with my fifth child would be gratefully taken on board !

[Thinkingof4]

oooh another idea!
we sometimes play a whispering game! So we only whisper and I can't hear if they are too loud. Can work for a short time!!