Teen Anger Management
Anger is a complicated emotion. While most of us think of anger as a negative force in our lives, it's also a great indicator that there's a problem. If you're the parent of a teenager, you've probably experienced some degree of anger from your child and undoubtedly met that child's anger with an equal or greater anger of your own. Unfortunately, overcoming anger with anger gives you and your child two options: to rebel or conform, but either choice builds resentment that robs you both of the true love and respect.
During the teenage years, children face a great deal of peer pressure, as well as pressure to perform or conform for parents, school and society. When that pressure is applied with anger, teenagers often feel compelled to rebel against their parents and society as a whole. As the parent of a teen, you may have to deal with rage, anger, and hostility from your child as he finds himself and makes his place in the world. The key to understanding and correcting your teenager's anger issues is realizing that your teenager's cries of anger are really cries of frustration for that special type of love and guidance he or she hasn't received. As a caring parent of an angry child, it is vital to understand and accept the fact that your own unseen angers, frustrations and insecurities contribute to your child's anger or are even the underlying cause of it.
The teenage mind can be an unstable, and the best way to calm and correct an unstable mind is to be a firm, immovable force of loving correction and respect. In order to be such a correcting force, you must first learn to be unmovable in your emotions and uninfluenced by anger and resentment. Once you gain control of your own emotions and anger, you will be amazed not only in the change in your teenager but everyone else in your family.
Rather than ignoring or appeasing rage and anger, it's better to develop some basic coping skills for dealing with it. In some cases, anger can escalate to violence, addiction, and antisocial behavior. One of the first things you need to do as a parent is identify when and if your teen's anger is reaching an unhealthy level. If you notice that your teen is damaging his body, he's brooding excessively, he's becoming less interested in social activities, or he's losing his temper at even the slightest provocation, it may be a sign his anger is getting out of control.
As teenagers have not experienced the added years of resentment and repressed anger as adults do, they are usually more honest with their emotions. Quite often teenagers can overcome anger and give up resentment and past judgments much quicker and easier then parents can. Roy Masters and the Foundation have been successfully helping children and their parents overcome anger and rage for decades. Through the use of "Be Still and Know" and supporting materials, you can overcome the issues you inherited from childhood and change the destiny of your children--and their children as well.
Meditation for awareness and forgiveness gives that critical space before angry reaction so you intuitively know what to say or not say. This helps to separate you and your teen from his negative, hostile, and even irrational feelings. At the Foundation of Human Understanding, we offer a variety of different tools for helping you through those difficult teen years. Popular videotapes include Dealing with Difficult Kids, Parenting Starts with You, and Patience Starts with Love. To order our products or to find out more about parenting and meditation, call us today at (800) 877-3227 or (541) 956-6700 or send us a fax at (541) 956-6705. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 1000, Grants Pass, Oregon 97528.
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