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Providing The Best Anger Management Tools For Teenagers
- By Ray Subs
- Published 12/19/2008
- Psychology
- Unrated
Anger is a normal emotion that everyone experiences at different times in their lives. When it is used and expressed properly, anger can be healthy; sometimes it motivates us to make a needed change or stand up for an important cause. However, when it happens too often or is expressed improperly anger can be a serious problem for teenagers that can affect their grades, their health, their relationships and their self-esteem. Finding ways to help teenagers learn anger management techniques is vital to helping them become productive healthy functioning adults.
If your teenager is getting in trouble at school or with the law due to anger management issues, the first thing to evaluate is your own behavior as a parent. Is your teenager modeling the behavior they learned at home? Sometimes this is a major issue, if the child is being physically or verbally assaulted at home or is witnessing this behavior in others they will have a difficult time understanding how to deal with anger appropriately. Take time for an honest evaluation and if there is a problem with anger management throughout the home, all parties should work on improving these issues together and seek professional help if necessary.
Not all teenagers with anger management issues learned the behavior at home, however. Sometimes there are chemical imbalances in the brain that may be caused by illness, food allergies, nutritional deficiencies or hormonal imbalances. A teenager with anger management issues should be checked out by a doctor to discover the cause or rule these possibilities. No matter which of these issues is the problem, taking certain steps can help make a great improvement in anger management for teenagers. Eating a healthy well-balanced meal that is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, healthy proteins and essential fatty acids is highly beneficial. Avoiding foods that cause allergic symptoms, are heavy in sugar or contain artificial ingredients and anything highly processed especially with MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, or hydrogenated oils in the ingredients list.
Learning anger management techniques to use when anger strikes is also an important part of changing the teenager's behavior. There are a few steps that can be taken to improve anger management for teenagers such as:
* Learning and avoiding possible triggers: for instance if being late causes stress and anger the teen can learn to plan in advance and leave earlier to avoid stress
* Learning to take a time out or walk away from stressful situations
* Finding non-violent ways to express anger without lashing out at others: writing in a journal or getting some physical activity can allow time to de-stress and focus some of their excess energy in a different direction. Things are often easier to deal with after cooling off first.
* Learn to apologize. When angry outbursts do occur, and rest assured they will, learning to say "I'm sorry" can help both the teenager and the injured party. Taking accountability for one's actions can help give them reason to pause when faced with a similar situation in the future. Along with apologizing, it is important to take the time to analyze the situation and determine how that situation could've been handled better and then decide to handle it that way next time.
Learning to deal with anger management issues is difficult for teenagers as well as the adults who care for them. Remember that helping to build their self-esteem is an important way to help them overcome this difficult issue, so take time to compliment them when they handle a situation well no matter how small the victory it should be acknowledged.
If your teenager is getting in trouble at school or with the law due to anger management issues, the first thing to evaluate is your own behavior as a parent. Is your teenager modeling the behavior they learned at home? Sometimes this is a major issue, if the child is being physically or verbally assaulted at home or is witnessing this behavior in others they will have a difficult time understanding how to deal with anger appropriately. Take time for an honest evaluation and if there is a problem with anger management throughout the home, all parties should work on improving these issues together and seek professional help if necessary.
Not all teenagers with anger management issues learned the behavior at home, however. Sometimes there are chemical imbalances in the brain that may be caused by illness, food allergies, nutritional deficiencies or hormonal imbalances. A teenager with anger management issues should be checked out by a doctor to discover the cause or rule these possibilities. No matter which of these issues is the problem, taking certain steps can help make a great improvement in anger management for teenagers. Eating a healthy well-balanced meal that is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, healthy proteins and essential fatty acids is highly beneficial. Avoiding foods that cause allergic symptoms, are heavy in sugar or contain artificial ingredients and anything highly processed especially with MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, or hydrogenated oils in the ingredients list.
Learning anger management techniques to use when anger strikes is also an important part of changing the teenager's behavior. There are a few steps that can be taken to improve anger management for teenagers such as:
* Learning and avoiding possible triggers: for instance if being late causes stress and anger the teen can learn to plan in advance and leave earlier to avoid stress
* Learning to take a time out or walk away from stressful situations
* Finding non-violent ways to express anger without lashing out at others: writing in a journal or getting some physical activity can allow time to de-stress and focus some of their excess energy in a different direction. Things are often easier to deal with after cooling off first.
* Learn to apologize. When angry outbursts do occur, and rest assured they will, learning to say "I'm sorry" can help both the teenager and the injured party. Taking accountability for one's actions can help give them reason to pause when faced with a similar situation in the future. Along with apologizing, it is important to take the time to analyze the situation and determine how that situation could've been handled better and then decide to handle it that way next time.
Learning to deal with anger management issues is difficult for teenagers as well as the adults who care for them. Remember that helping to build their self-esteem is an important way to help them overcome this difficult issue, so take time to compliment them when they handle a situation well no matter how small the victory it should be acknowledged.
Ray Subs
Ray Subs is a public relations consultant working to promote the Help Your Child with Anger Blog. For more information about dealing with anger management in children visit the blog.
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