Adolescent Anger Management
I was out shopping with my 15 year old daughter when she accidentally dropped her cell phone while texting a friend of her. To my dismay, she had a complete meltdown: she was yelling, screaming, and behaving horribly. That was when I realized that my daughter really needed some adolescent anger management. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not necessarily a good role model in this regard. I’ve been having anger management problems for years. I even read a book called Escape From Anger that gave me some good tips — but any changes I made to my behavior didn’t last long. I really don’t want my daughter to turn out the way I did and to have these kinds of outbursts — thus it was time to start thinking about options for anger management for children.
At the time I didn’t really say anything to her other than to point out that it wasn’t that big of a deal and that she should just relax and be cool with little accidents like that happening from time to time. I don’t really think, in retrospect, that it’s a good idea to tell someone who has just had an outburst of anger that the reason for their being upset is not a big deal. It belittles their feelings and in some ways makes them feel even angrier. Later that night I spoke to my husband and told him what had happened. He listened carefully and told me that our daughter had been exhibiting this kind of unruly behavior for a while and that she might need more help than what’s traditionally offered when you go to an adolescent anger management class. We decided that we’d speak to her teacher at school to hear if she had nothing anything.
Her teacher indicated that our daughter didn’t really have behavior problems while at school. She seemed emotionally mature and somewhat mercurial, according to the teacher. We decided that it would probably make sense to just make an appointment to see the school psychologist and to have our daughter evaluated by a professional. I’m convinced that with the right therapy, these angry outbursts can be gotten under control. I’m not a very positive person all the time, but I really feel that my daughter has a lot of potential. I really wouldn’t want to see her go through life having to deal with adolescent anger management problems. Who knows, I might even be able to finally get my own anger problems under control to be a positive role model for my daughter.
Tags: Adolescent Anger Management, Anger Management For Children, Behavior Changes, Behavior Problems, Escape From Anger, Positive Role Model, Temper Tantrums
