How Anger Physically Feels to Children

From Oprah.com/supersoulsunday

children and angerSometimes, it’s the smallest things that can teach us the biggest lessons.

Young or old, no one is immune to anger, but how we handle this complex emotion can be the marker of true maturity.

It may seem that younger people often struggle to manage anger effectively, but as the above video from OWN’s “Super Soul Sunday”shows, even children can learn to let go — and teach the rest of us a valuable lesson in the process.

While the frustrations that children feel may seem small in comparison to most adult issues, the anger that kids experience is quite weighty — and, as several children explain, oftentimes manifests physically.

“When I’m mad, my brain can get a headache and it can start hurting.

“Your blood keeps pumping because you’re really mad. You start to get sweaty because you’re getting really, really mad. And then when you start getting really mad, you turn red.”

“It’s kind of like if you had a jar. The jar would be your brain, and then you put glitter in the jar… If you shook up the jar and the glitter went everywhere, that would be how your mind looks.”

“When I get angry, I feel it in my heart.”

Despite their youth, these children have already realized the power of a simple coping mechanism: Taking a deep breath can change your whole world.

“First, you find a place where you can be alone. Then you find some way to relax and calm down.”

“I breathe in through my nose.”

“Sometimes, I close my eyes.”

“My brain slows down and then I feel more calm, and then I’m ready to speak.”

“It’s like slowing down, and then it stops. And the heart [pumps] slow and then it goes into your brain.”

“It’s like all the sparkles are at the bottom of your brain.”

 

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/22/anger-children-what-calms-them-down_n_7111320.html

“Super Soul Sunday” airs Sundays at 11 a.m. ET on OWN. You can also stream the program live at that time on Oprah.com/supersoulsunday or Facebook.com/supersoulsunday.

Related CE Courses

Temperament plays a significant role in a child’s development, experience, relationships, and behaviors. Children often need supportive intervention to allow them to function in healthy ways and reach their potential. This video course will include a discussion of normal early childhood development and the range of normal functioning as it is impacted by temperament. The purpose of this course is to help participants understand the role that temperament plays in the trajectory of normal child development including inner experience, relationships, and behavior and learn effective, supportive interventions. It is intended for all types of therapists who work with children or their parents, as well as for school-based personnel and classroom teachers.

 

Children with difficult temperaments and those with developmental delays may have learned to express their dissatisfaction with challenging and defiant behavior like whining, anger, temper tantrums or bad language. They sometimes engage in negative behavior or “misbehave” because they do not have the necessary skills – communicative or otherwise – to make their needs known. This can be a cause of major frustration for parents who may respond angrily in kind. It can be equally frustrating for clinicians. Our time with our young clients is often short, so we need to be able to manage challenging and defiant behavior effectively. The purpose of this course is to teach clinicians effective and practical strategies to manage challenging and defiant behavior in their young clients. The course will also focus on how clinicians can educate parents on how to manage difficult behavior and avoid power struggles at home. The dynamics and techniques described in this course are intended for use with typically functioning children and those with developmental or language delays. They are not generally adequate or even appropriate for children with serious behavior conditions like oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorders.

 

This course, which includes two CDC bulletins, discusses the findings of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), the most comprehensive nationwide survey of the incidence and prevalence of children’s exposure to violence to date, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The survey confirms the alarming statistic that most of our society’s children are exposed to violence in their daily lives. More than 60% of the children surveyed were exposed to violence within the past year, either directly or indirectly. The reports further reveal the adverse effects suffered by children who witness violence, identify risk and protective factors, and describe the key elements of designing an effective response. This course satisfies the domestic violence requirement for biennial relicensure of Florida mental health professionals.

 

This course zeros in on the youngster who may damage property, defy authority, steal, lie, torment peers, manipulate and hurt others, disrupt classrooms, make threats, and break laws and rules. In the extreme, some of these youth may even engage in fire setting, sexual assault, or school violence. Anti-social youth and conduct disorders are among the hardest-to-manage youngsters. The conventional methods that work with other youngsters usually fail with this population. For this reason, many youth professionals become profoundly discouraged and frustrated, feeling that there is nothing that they can do to successfully manage this type of out-of-control youngster. The methods offered in this course are intended to be the tailored tools that you need to manage and help anti-social and conduct disordered youth and children.

 

Professional Development Resources is approved to offer online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; and by the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners.