How to Stop Yelling up the Stairs

Keeping Your Cool While Raising Your Kids

Janel Breitenstein

• Publisher: Kregel Publications
• eBook ISBN:
  9780825455698
• Year: 2026

"[Breitenstein] does valuable work in highlighting the insidious ways in which women often suppress their emotions, in dismantling reductive stereotypes about Christian femininity, and in reassuring readers that experiencing a full spectrum of emotions is part of being alive." —Publishers Weekly Lead with love when your last nerve is shot. You want: a peaceful home where you model self-control. You have: regrettable reactions when the kids baptize the cat. Your children, whom you dearly love and usually like, are bickering upstairs, baiting each other across the invisible line on the back seat, or causing the laptop to bellyflop on the linoleum. The end of your rope vanished along with the chance to enjoy a hot cup of coffee. How can you handle your real-life kids and real-life stress without flipping your lid or locking yourself in the bathroom? With been-there humor, Janel Breitenstein offers wisdom and practical strategies pulled from God's approach to conflict. In this boots-on-the-ground field guide, you'll find - empowering tips to parent smarter, not harder—with greater emotional intelligence and intentional discipleship; - thoughtful questions to help you dive into the "whys" beneath your anger; - group discussion prompts; and - "cooling" prayers. It's time for an inner exploration that will clear your path and your mind. You can calmly and confidently raise your kids, lower your voice, and shape a home of peace.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• CHAPTER ONE: What Anger Problem? – (Or, A River in Egypt)
• CHAPTER TWO: Why We Do Not Never Fight – (Or, Is Anger Ever Okay?)
• CHAPTER THREE: The Great Replay – (Or, Why Your Anger Matters More Than You Think)
• CHAPTER FOUR: Tell Me What You Want—What You Really, Really Want – (Or, If Only I Could Blame the Dog)
• CHAPTER FIVE: Unwinding Your Anger DNA – (Or, What Lies Beneath)
• CHAPTER SIX: No Makeup Can Touch This Level of Tired – (Or, #1 of the Twin Mom-Anger Engines)
• CHAPTER SEVEN: This Is Your Brain Freaking Out – (Or, #2 of the Twin Mom-Anger Engines)
• CHAPTER EIGHT: When Your Child (Yep, That One) Is Driving You Crazy – (Or, You. Outside. Now.)
• CHAPTER NINE: Win-Win Confrontational Conversations – (Or, How to Tell the Truth)
• CHAPTER TEN: How to Clean Up After Yourself – (Or, How to Make Repentance Your Superpower)
• CHAPTER ELEVEN: The God Who Stops Me from Yelling up the Stairs – (Or, How to Not Give Up)
• Appendix A: Creating a Discipline Profile
• Appendix B: Six Prayers for When You Want to Tear Your Hair Out
• Group Discussion Questions and Verses to Memorize
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR