“How do you help a child with anger?”

Supporting a child who lashes out and expresses a great deal of anger is a relatively simple process; when the child is younger. When we approach the age of 7 and 8, and the child is still exhibiting a significant amount of anger, then addressing the feelings is not as straightforward. It is more challenging to identify the source of the child's anger and to achieve the goal (managing the anger) the child often needs to have a desire to manage their feelings. A quick cheat sheet - ignore the behavior. Younger children are often receptive to 'operant conditioning.' Examples: "positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment." Ignore the words together - positive means ADDING something to the situation, and NEGATIVE means taking something away from the situation. REINFORCEMENT means you want the behavior to continue, and PUNISHMENT means you want the behavior to stop. To engage a child with anxiety (or anger), it is important to consider their situation and consider if would like the child's behavior to stop (anxiety/anger), and whether you want to add something to the situation (an incentive, for example) or if you want to remove something. With anger and tantrums, you should remove yourself from the environment so the child does not have an audience. Children's anger is typically related to frustration over a sense of 'injustice.' It's not fair that I am not getting... Focus on 'why' the child feels things are unfair, acknowledge how it may feel unfair, and it does not mean the child can act in any way. This is when you should consider operant conditioning; what in the environment can be added or subtracted, and what behaviors you want to continue and what behaviors you want to stop.

Help your daughter by normalizing her anxiety as an emotion that everyone experiences at one point or another. There is a helpful app called CALM that she can utilize to learn some breathing techniques. It is also helpful to consider a therapy evaluation.

Hi there,

It depends on a lot of different factors. First, you could reach out to your child's Pediatrician. Alternatively, you could message us through our website and I will get in touch with you directly. Use this link and follow the prompts: https://thewholechildcollective.com/contact-us/

See this link..
https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/anger-issues-in-children-and-teens
and
https://www.ahaparenting.com/read/angry-child