Healthy Anger: How to Help Children and Teens Manage Their Anger

How should we respond to a child's temper tantrum? To a teenager's sullen resentment? How can we help children and teens experience their anger without being overwhelmed by it? How can we deal with their anger before it leads to depression, isolation, or even violence? Now, in Healthy Anger, Bernard Golden draws upon more than twenty years of experience as a psychologist and teacher to offer specific, practical strategies for helping children and teens manage their anger constructively. Unlike many who suggest that anger should be repressed, Golden argues that anger is a natural human emotion intricately connected with a range of other thoughts and feelings. He stresses that anger, when properly understood, tells us more about our own wants and needs than about the person or situation that has caused the anger. Golden has developed a set of skills that parents, teachers, and counsellors can use to show children how to identify the causes of anger; how to respond to anger in ways that lead to an internal sense of competence and self-control; how to use anger to understand their own emotional situation; and how to develop a greater capacity for empathy towards themselves and others. And he shows parents how to cope with outbursts--including clear, step-by-step instructions and problem-solving skills-how to derail escalating anger, reward good behaviours, and recognise when professional help is needed. For anyone who has ever helplessly confronted a child's rage or a teenager's defiant fury, Healthy Anger offers a wealth of wise insight, clear advice, and eminently practical strategies for turning anger into understanding.