I came across this article, How Inuit Parents Teach Kids to Control Their Anger, from KQED awhile ago, saved it to my list of parenting resources, and I am just now getting around to reading it. I was impressed by Inuit families' approach to teaching anger management. Here are my takeaways:
- Teaching children how to control their anger begins with parents learning and practicing these skills. Parents serve as models; kids learn emotion regulation from us. "When we yell at a child - or even threaten with something like 'I'am starting to get angry,' we're training the child to yell. We're training them to yell when they get upset and that yelling solves problems."
- Use storytelling to teach discipline. We learn best through things that are interesting to us. And stories, by their nature, can have lots of things in them that are much more interesting in a way that bare statements don't. I frequently use picture books to teach important social skills, such as resolving interpersonal conflicts and managing strong emotions.
- Use drama to provide children with an opportunity to practice controlling their anger. It is important that this take place when they are not actually angry. By practicing having a different response or a different emotion, children have a better chance of managing their anger during hot-button moments. "That practice is essentially helping to rewire your brain to be able to make a different emotion [besides anger] much more easily." In wellness classes, I often have student role play scenarios where they are faced with a "trigger" - something that would make them angry, frustrated, etc. - and practice self control and problem solving strategies.
