no one listens unless i yell

I'm really at a loss and very stressed for kindergarten.  my boys seriously do not listen unless they out to dinner somewhere.  (great, i know).
however, camp, playing at home - i do stay and watch them at their half-day camp and it's like the coach is constantly repeating their names because my kids aren't listening.  i have one more month left of summer and i would really love to enjoy it without having to constantly yell all the time.
 
i try incentives.  i try taking things away.  i don't know what else to do.

 

Oh my gosh. It's like that here too. My two will listen to others. It's just usually me and sometimes DH that they tune out. 
 
It sounds simple, but have you had their hearing checked? My mom had a similar complaint about me as a child and as it turned out, I do have a slight hearing loss from ear infections and ruptured ear drums. 
 
I did have my kiddos checked out. Turns out they just have selective hearing and chose to tune me out.  <_< 

 

Same here!! And my kids are all like 'why do you have to be so mean and yell'  and I'm like 'I said it nice the first freaking five times!!!! but you dont listen to me!!!' ugh!!
No one in my house takes me seriously until I start acting like a complete maniac! LOL
 
I usually just tell them I'm fed up and if I have to repeat ANYTHING more than once they will lose their tablets or playtime with friends. 
It's super frustrating.
 
*hugs*

 

We have that problem too. What I have been doing lately is getting right down in their face and asking them to look at me while I am talking. As for their coach; let the coach work it out. I know from experience that once they get a serious talking to from an outside adult they tend to whip themselves into shape. If it gets really serious, I make them sit on the sideline with me until they are ready to listen.
 
I am hoping at some point that this personality trait has some benefits. Sigh.

 

I found the approach outlined here really helpful with my kids: http://fullcircleparenting.com/my-child-is-not-listening-to-me-what-can-i-do/. I do it with the girls (6) as well as with Emmett (2.5) even though the example here is a 3 year old.

 

We try to do what Jen does too - get down to their level, make eye-contact and make them repeat what I told them, at least if I am not sure they understood or if I have been repeating myself too often.

 

Getting down to my kids eye level has helped.  Making sure that they are looking at me and me at them when I make the request and having them repeat it back to me had reduced my yelling.  It's not 100% effective but it does help.
I agree with Gina, also have their hearing checked, my friend had that done with her now 6 year old.  When he was in pre-k the teacher was noticing that he was not responding to her requests and had to be told to do things many times.  Everyone initially thought he was choosing not to listen.  Since her older children were routinely checked by an ENT because they have tubes, she had him checked.  Turns out he had a ton of fluid in his ears and needed tubes even though he did not have a lot of ear infections or anything.  And he passed the hearing test at school and the pediatrician's office but failed the ENT's hearing test.  Once he had that taken care of, he responded to requests and listened much better.

 

I also tell them to put their listening ears on. It's silly, but they have to pretend to put ears on, and then I know they're ready to hear what I am saying.