How to manage your child’s irritability

If your child is suffering from bouts of uncontrollable anger, beware. Needless to say, anger outbursts can affect his or her overall well-being in a major way. Here's how you can effectively manage your child's anger:

Don't shout back
Whatever you do, just do not yell back at your child when he or she is trying to deal with angry outbursts. Experts say that you cannot really fight fire with fire, so keep calm and let emotions subside.

Logical explanations
It is imperative to have a rational discussion with your child about how anger is bad for health and how irritability won't solve anything in life. Make every effort to tell them how anger can affect their physical, mental and emotional well-being.

Get to the root
There can be some underlying issues that are fuelling the anger outbursts. Before trying to solve your child’s anger issues, it is important to figure out what led to the disruptions in the first place, so that you can address the root cause of the problem. It is also important to understand what the child really wants or needs. Is it your attention? Is it their frustration at not being able to achieve something? Get to the root of the anger issues.

Be a role model
The best way to help your child is to lead by example. Children observe their parents' behavior very minutely. They are likely to imitate your reaction to a situation when confronted with something similar. For example, when you are upset, do not shout at others, find constructive ways to solve the problem. They need to see how you manage your own anger. In the final analysis, be a role model for your children.

Seek help
Even after all these efforts, if your child’s temper tantrums are going out of control, seek professional help. Bouts of anger can affect relationships. Seeking the help of a professional counsellor can bring to the fore issues that are leading to temper tantrums.

Comments are closed.