I hate hearing people yell at their children, yet I do it myself, I don't swear at them though. I never wanted to be a yelling mother and it upsets me when it happens as I feel like I have lost control of the situation and that I am hurting my relationship with my kids.
I do think it is important for children to see how their actions have effected the people around them. I try to use time out as a coping skill and I try to not sweat the little stuff, but like others have posted when you are dealing with it 24/7 and the pressures of life are circling around you there are going to be times when you crack.

If I have shouted at my kids I will often sit down with them when things have calmed down and talk about what just happened, and let them know that it didn't make me feel good to yell at them, and that I didn't love what happened but I do love them.
I too want to correct some of my parents mistakes and have a better relationship with my kids, but as the time goes by and I have my own challenges to deal with I can better understand why they were not the model parents either and most parents are just trying to do there best.

Just to finish with, I have noticed that the different personalities in my house and the way that they interact with each other has a lot to do with the peace in the house.