March
Is My Child's Anger Normal?
Anger is a normal and healthy emotion and most children will experience meltdowns or tantrums as a result of it at some point. While these behaviors are not uncommon, there are strategies you can work on with your child to decrease their occurrence.
Here are a few techniques that you can use to help your child calm down from a tantrum, and prevent them from happening in the future.
Figure Out Your Child’s Triggers: Once you understand what triggers your child’s anger, you can work with them to develop solutions to these issues.
Stay Calm: Angry responses to your child’s outbursts can further escalate their already heightened emotions. Providing calm responses, however, models the behavior you would like to see from your child. Don’t Give In: While it may be tempting to give in to your child’s wants simply to end the tantrum, doing so can increase the likelihood of this behavior occurring again.
Stay firm and consistent in your rules and expectations.
Ignore Negative Behavior and Reward Positive Behavior: Avoid giving attention to minor problematic behaviors, and instead, focus on praising the positive behavior you’d like to see more of from your child.
Provide Consequences: Make sure that your child is not only aware of the consequences they will receive for negative behaviors, but also that they know you will follow through with these consequences when necessary.
Talk After the Tantrum Ends: Trying to reason with your child when their emotions are heightened is typically not effective. Instead, wait to have a conversation with them until their meltdown is over.
Build a Calm Down Toolkit: Ensure that your child is prepared to deal with anger by equipping them with self-soothing tools, such as deep breathing strategies.
Adapted from the Child Mind Institute article “Is My Child's Anger Normal?” and https://www.haverford.k12.pa.us/departments/department-of-pupil-services/guidance/elementary-counseling-newsletter
