My Child Seems So Angry | Part 2

My Child Seems So Angry | Part 2

Feb 01

Why Deal with Temper Tantrums?

There are many emotions that a parent can go through in the few minutes their child is having a temper tantrum, fear, helplessness, embarrassment, frustration, exhaustion, even anger.  It is so important that the first thing we do, no matter what the age of our child, is gain control of our emotions.  Temper tantrums need to be dealt with in a calm controlled manner in order to help our children process through the emotional outburst.

We need to bear in mind that tantrums are signal behavior.  We need to deal with the outward manifestation of the emotion because this is obviously not appropriate behavior for an adult in a work environment.  With a toddler a temper tantrum may simply be they are not getting their way and are struggling to handle the disappointment and frustration.  For an older child or teen, an outburst, over-reaction, or slamming around is usually a sign that something deeper is going on.  This is a good time to get them out of the environment, maybe go for a walk, to discuss what is really going on that would make them react that way.  Like we talked about yesterday it may be a result of a change in the house or simply something bad that happened at school.  Part of what we need to instill in our children before they leave our home is impulse control.  The Bible reminds us in Ephesians 4:26, “In your anger, do not sin.”  This is such an important lesson to train our children. We will all feel the emotion of anger it’s what we do with it that counts.

Listen to today’s podcast for more insight on anger in children.