A lot of child behavior issues focus on kids struggling with anger management. Disrespect, conflict, aggression and oppositional behavior may normally be alleviated through helping your kids know better handling of their anger. Once you teach your child with effective anger management skill, this will develop behavior, while providing him one of the essential skills in life.
If you want your child to become a better person, teaching him how to better manage his anger is important. Start today by considering the following pointers:
- Distinguish Between Behavior And feelings
Normally, children face difficulty in knowing and understanding the distinction between aggressive behavior and feelings. Let your child know about feelings, allowing them to learn to verbalize the feelings of disappointment, frustration, and anger. Basically, feelings, such as hurt and sadness are covered by aggressive behaviors. Teach the child how to determine and verbalize his feelings rather than acting them out.
Furthermore, mention that feeling angry is fine. Anger is similar to some other emotion. Just know the right times when to feel it. Considering this will help children understand that discussing anger and feeling angry are not bad.
- Mold Proper Anger Management Skills
It is important for you to become a role model of appropriate behaviors, teaching them the better management of their anger. When your child sees you losing your control, he will be more likely to experience trouble dealing with his own anger or distinguishing what’s right from wrong.
There are times when parents choose to hide their frustrations and feelings from their children. Even though it is right to protect children from adult issues, they also have to witness just how you manage your feeling of anger. Produce chances to discuss feelings and allocate right ways to cope with them. Citing some instances when you get frustrated can teach children how to discuss their feelings.
Be responsible for your own behavior, especially when you lose control in front of your kids. Say sorry and talk about what should be done instead.
- Implement Anger Rules
When it comes to anger, most families present informal family rules regarding the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Other families do not mind slammed doors or raised voices, while some might have less acceptance for those behaviors. Make written home rules, which clarify kids the things they could do when they are angry and the kinds of behavior that might lead to certain consequences.
Anger rules must focus on respectfully behaving towards others. Children have to realize that only because they are angry does not give them the authority to hurt anybody. Deal with areas, like name-calling, physical aggression, and property destruction, so they know that they cannot throw and break things, or punt physically or verbally when they are mad.
Educate Healthy Approaches To Manage Anger
Children have to be aware of the right way to cope with anger. Rather than simply telling, “Don’t hurt your sister”, say what they should do when feeling frustrated. Use time-out as a discipline rather than punishment. This way, kids will learn taking breaks by themselves, helping them to cool down.
Children may also take advantage from knowing some coping skills. Let them learn how to take breaks when they are frustrated. Demonstrate to them some relaxation techniques through doing some enjoyable activities. Furthermore, you may teach them some problem-solving skills, while helping them know how to resolve conflicts calmly. Most especially, tell them to walk out when they are angry to avoid being aggressive.
- Give Consequences When Needed
Children demand positive consequences once they follow anger rules, while they need negative consequences once they break them. Positive consequences are particularly crucial for children, who normally face hardships with anger management. A token economy or reward system may offer additional incentive to aid them to stay calm and apply their skills for managing their anger safely.
For any aggressive behavior presented, there have to be direct consequences. Based on the age of your child, consequences might include loss of privilege, time out or even restitution payment through performing additional chores or giving a toy to his victim.
It is just normal for children to have a hard time when managing their anger sometimes. However, this difficulty in anger management might result to some serious issues for some children in the long run. When the concern about the behaviors of your child or child anger management issues grows, seeking professional assistance is recommended. A knowledgeable and skilled professional may rule out any fundamental psychological health concerns and may provide producing a behavior or anger management plan.