Yelling seems to have become the newest guilt-trip of our society. Last October, the New York Times published at article entitled, "For Some Parents, Shouting is the New Spanking." Most everyone knows that it's no longer socially acceptable to spank your children. But what does the current generation raising wee ones do when all the positive reinforcement and time outs stop working? We YELL.

Regardless of who's doing the hollering, the fact is that as the Times' own expert said, "It isn't the yelling per se that's going to make a difference, it’s how the yelling is interpreted."

Here in America, while a few religiously conservative groups still condone spanking, there are no communities that believe in yelling as a child-rearing practice. And surely most couples in cultures worldwide find appalling abuses like that of an Afghanistan man who threw acid on a young girl's face for daring to go to school.

So what is the solution to what the French law describes as the "psychological damage" that occurs within marriages, and by extension, the couple's family?

Working to eliminate the negative stigma of seeking psychological help would be more productive. Enacting another law that's too vague to nail down is not the answer, in my opinion.

One of my husband Christmas gifts was a copy of Anger Management starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson. I think it demonstrated my point pretty well. The entire movie pokes fun at the fact that Sandler's character is stressed out and his wife thinks he needs help. Our culture sees yelling, hollering, and shouting as something that's hilarious to watch but too shameful to deal with. Only when we can accept that we are all flawed psychologically and seek the assistance we need through counseling, drugs, or divine intervention without shame, can "psychological damage" really be undone.

MzEll is a Twilight-obsessed mother of 3 boys living in South Texas. She's hoping in 2010 to figure out what it means to be a grown up.You can read her blog at Cookiemonks.