How to control the anger in children

It is normal that at certain times people get to experience certain types of emotions such as anger and/or anger and although they are sometimes considered as annoying or negative emotions also have an important function in life. In this case, anger works as a motivation for us to want to defend ourselves from some unfair situation for example. However, uncontrolled reactions of these emotional states can become harmful, both for children and for ourselves.

Therefore, it is important to help the child since childhood to learn to deal with this type of annoying emotions so that their actions are positive and not destructive. In this Psychology-online article: How to control the anger in children, We are going to give you a series of tips to help them achieve it.

1. How to manage anger in children
2. Control anger in children: treatment
3. Activities to work children's anger

How to manage anger in children

All people and in this case, children must learn to manage that intense emotion that they experience as anger so that this type of emotion does not master them and do not easily lose control. Actually the bad thing is not that a child gets angry, the bad is what it does with that emotion, the action that is accompanied to it since in the worst case it can trigger some kind of physical or verbal aggressions.

If you want to know how to control the anger in children, it is essential that you explain to the little ones the following concepts on the techniques of emotional control and the management of the anger:

• Teach them what emotions are. The first thing to do so that the child can gradually learn to manage his emotions is to explain what emotions are. This can be done through examples that are easy and simple for them, reading stories, television programs, etc.
• Learn to identify emotion. After having taught them what emotions are and, of course, having explained that experiencing them is a normal process, you have to teach them to learn to identify their own emotions. For example, questions can be asked about other situations where they have been angry and that identify how they felt, which was what happened in those moments that began to get angry, because that happened, etc.

Control anger in children: treatment

Something that should also be explained through different examples of everyday life and, of course, appropriate to the age of each child (it will not be the same procedure to control anger in an 8 -year -old boy than work for anger attacks in three -year -old children) is the relationship between thoughts and emotions.

This means that the child should be taught that before people begin to experience a certain emotion such as anger, joy, sadness, etc. We will always have a series of thoughts related to that emotion first.

Awareness about their emotions and thoughts

For example, when we feel sad, surely before experiencing that sadness we will have thoughts such as: "How bad I find", "what a difficult situation", "I don't want to be alone", "I miss my family", among many others.

These types of thoughts have as a consequence in us a certain emotion, in this case sadness. Therefore, what should be explained to the child is this and obviously the examples that are going to put them have to go designed according to the age and personality of each child. The purpose is that they learn to become aware of what happens to them and when they are in a situation where they experience anger they know perfectly where they come and that it is the product of the thoughts it has about the situation.

Activities to work children's anger

Finally, after explaining what emotions are and having become aware of their own, we can use a series of exercises and positive psychology techniques to facilitate controlling anger and learning to control the anger in children:

• Globe technique. Children learn very well through metaphors and in this case we will use a balloon which we will inflate telling them that the air that the globe is filling is anger and we will ask them what would happen if we continued getting angry more and more. Of course they will answer that the globe will burst to what we will answer what happens when we do not control that emotion, in the end we can explode, however if we manage it in an adequate way we will gradually deflate the globe.
• Breathing exercise. They are told that every time they begin to experience an unpleasant emotion such as anger, they have to make a slow and deep breath, retain the air telling up to 5 and let it slowly until you start feeling calmer. They are told that every time they let go of the air they imagine the globe disinfly, that they think that they are thinking and feeling and that little by little they try to change those thoughts for others more happy and positive. They have to continue doing the exercise until they feel calmer and can express their anger without altering.
• No reactions impulsively to your anger. Every time the child gets angry, do not respond the same, on the contrary try to reassure him helping him to perform the breathing exercise until you notice that he is calmer and can express what he feels without altering.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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