The Orange Rhino Challenge
The orange rhino is a challenge. It is a method based on the real experience of a mother who wanted to change her child’s behavior through self-discipline. Here, other qualities come into play such as patience, understanding and good communication between parents and children.
Parents’ lives are full of challenges and one of them is communication with their children. There are times when the daily pressures of life cause you to lose patience and resort to screaming.
Why is it bad to yell at your kids?
Obviously, it must be recognized that losing your temper and yelling at your children is not a practical method and that most of the time nothing is achieved with the child. Even if she obeys, it will be out of fear and not out of respect.
In addition, this habit can leave marks for life, creating in children the bad habit of yelling at other children, imitating the parents’ way of being. However, there are ways to leave this bad habit behind and one of them is through what is known as the orange rhinoceros.
Origin of the orange rhinoceros
The challenge came from a mother of four from the United States, named Sheila McCraith. She felt embarrassed when, without realizing it, she found herself yelling at her children all the time.
Her discomfort was so bad that she set out to change her behavior. In the meantime, Sheila discovered two important things:
- She was able to control the urge to yell at her children in the presence of strangers.
- What children think and feel is more important than other people’s opinions.
This event led her to confess that she used to yell a lot at her children, but that she wanted to change that habit. So she had the idea of setting herself a challenge, which she called the orange rhinoceros.
In relation to color, for her, orange resembles determination. Precisely strength and determination was what she needed to break free from this bad habit.
What is the challenge of the orange rhinoceros?
This challenge consists of holding out for a while without yelling at the kids. Of course, to achieve this, this mother used some additional tips that allowed her to stay focused on her goal.
These tricks include: writing down your determination not to yell at your kids, monitoring their progress, and noting each time you reach your goal of not yelling at them.
This woman’s personal experience shows that she managed to go through a full four years without yelling at her children. Therefore, it is considered to be a successful tool.
How to apply the orange rhino technique
Behavioral therapy for the orange rhinoceros offers practical and somewhat far-fetched suggestions. Faced with the idea of bombarding your kids with a huge list of curses and a war of words, try the following measures:
- Breathe deeply.
- Leave the site for a moment. Go to another room or go out into the backyard.
- Move your body.
- Listen to music.
- Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a nice place.
- Wash your face with cold water and count to ten.
- Look for an orange-colored object in various places in the house that reminds you of your objective.
Behavior change through the orange rhinoceros challenge
While it’s true that as a parent you have authority over your children, this creates great responsibilities. Remember that you are the role model for your children.
Of course, accepting the orange rhinoceros challenge is not a magic bullet for change. However, it allows you to accept and work on the following aspects:
- Recognize that you have a communication problem with your children.
- Accept that it takes willpower to change.
- Propose the challenge based on goals that are easy to be met. For example, go a whole day without yelling at your kids and go from there.
- Talk to others about your goal so they can encourage you to reach it.
- Identify the situations that cause you to yell at your children.
- Anticipate the situations that trigger the screams and avoid them.
- Strive to control your reactions in different environments and situations.
It’s true that, as a parent, certain situations can be too much for you and cause you to end up yelling at your kids. Even so, the idea is that screaming is not the usual pattern of creation in your home. So, be brave and apply the orange rhino method in your home.
