Kids often have difficulty controlling their emotions, especially anger. However, parents can help improve behavior problems in children, such as disrespect, oppositional behavior, and aggression by teaching how to manage anger. Anger management for kids is an important life skill that parents need to teach their children.
How to Help with Anger Management for Kids
Anger management for kids aims to reduce kids’ negative feelings, which can also help reduce physiological changes associated with anger. These include increased adrenaline, a hormone associated with intense emotion, and increased blood pressure. Children must be taught to deal with intense emotions by helping them to express, suppress and calm their anger.
1. Release Anger
When a child is able to express anger, he is less likely to show angry outbursts. This can be done by allowing him to express his feelings with words, saying why he feels mad. Also, they need to learn expressing feelings without hurting others. You can help them by asking them to describe their feelings when they are calmer.
2. Restrain Anger
Another way of managing anger is to restrain it and convert it into a more positive emotion. This is suitable for teenagers and older children. Such a technique involves helping the child recognize anger and convert it into something constructive, such as writing or drawing. By encouraging your child to convert and express this emotion, you can prevent you kid from the harm of depression and the increase of high blood pressure caused by anger.Besides, do not allow them to display unacceptable behaviors such as temper tantrums or reward them by not facing the consequences of their actions.
3. Relieve Anger
When your kids in anger, help your kids to control their behavior and calm down by walking outdoors, taking deep breaths, taking time outs, and doing some exercise to relieve anger.
4. Establish Anger Rules
Different families have varying levels of tolerance to angry behaviors. Create your own household rules about how kids can express their anger and what behaviors they should avoid, such as slamming doors or yelling at each other. Rules should include how to respect others even when they are angry, and avoidance of physical aggression, destructive behavior and name calling.
5. Teach Healthy Ways to Manage
Kids need help to learn appropriate ways to manage their anger. So instead of telling them not to hit their playmate, teach them what they can do when feeling frustrated. One way is to take some time out on their own as a means of calming down. Show them some relaxing techniques and teach them how to solve problems and resolve conflicts peacefully.
What Can Kids Do Towards Their Anger?
Although parents can help kids to develop anger management skill, there are still something that kids can do to their anger feelings. Here are some ways kids can release their anger:
- ?Run around a large, contained space in your house several times while counting to distract him and release his emotions.
- ?Go into a closed space, such as a bathroom and yell as much he wants to vent out his feelings without affecting others.
- ?Rip some wrapping paper, which makes a satisfying noise and gives him a feeling of power.
- ?Make faces at the mirror until he goes into a laughing fit.
- ?Throw dirt outside without hurting anyone.
When to Worry
Consult a doctor if you feel that your child is getting way out of control and his interactions with family and friends are affected when he is angry. The doctor may recommend a mental health professional or psychologist to work with your child and your family, which helps with developing your child’s thinking and behaviors.
Important Notes:
- Anger is a normal human emotion, but uncontrolled emotions can lead to unnecessary aggression. Helping your child to manage anger can help him learn ways to better cope with his feelings.
- Consult a psychologist to help your child develop his ways of thinking and behaving in response to anger.
- Encourage kids to express anger by talking and helping them convert anger into more positive emotions.