Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Introduction:
This chapter will help you understand the nature and development of anger, especially as it occurs during early childhood. We will look at some developmentally appropriate ways to help children manage their anger responsibly. We will learn what emotional intelligence is and how it can have a direct impact on how a child deals with their anger. With that being said we will also explore some ideas that can assist us in giving children the tools they need to understand and manage their anger appropriately.

Learning objectives:
> Explain several facets of the concept of anger: the definition, causes of anger in children, how children cope with anger, display rules for anger.

> List several good reasons for teaching responsible anger management.

> List and describe examples of developmentally appropriate strategies for helping children manage anger responsibly.

> List and explain the 4 major components of emotional intelligence.

Body of the lecture:

Emotional Intelligence refers to how well a person copes with his or her own feelings and whether the person has empathy and gets along with others. Essentially emotional intelligent children who are able to manage their emotions and who tend to feel more connected to others are better able to solve their problems and deal with conflict better than those children who would be classified as not emotionally intelligent.

Building Blocks of Emotional Intelligence:
~ Self awareness - Clear sense of self. Must be able to recognize and think about his/her emotions.
~ Awareness of others - Perspective taking. Understanding that other people have feelings also.
~ Self management - A person's ability to manage his/her own emotions and behaviour responsibly. They need to have the skills to do this.
~ Interaction and relationship management - The ability to relate to others ethically, productively, and humanely and is the core of healthy social development.

Emotional intelligence is learned. It will not develop unless a child has appropriate models of emotional intelligence who take the time to give essential lessons.

Installing hardware for Emotional Intelligence-see figure 8.3 pg. 207.

Anger is a natural and normal emotion. Anger can be described as a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility. If anger is chronic (ongoing) or if it is unresolved can be quite detrimental to your health and relationships with other people.

There are three components of anger:
1. the emotional state of anger (feeling)
2. the expression of anger (behaviour/words)
3. the understanding of anger

SEE Causes of Anger Pg. 203
SEE How Children Express Anger Pg. 204
Factors Affecting How Children Express Anger
Age and Gender
Younger children tend to express anger more readily because they haven’t had an opportunity to learn their cultures rules about expressing anger and because younger children don’t understand their anger; therefore, they are lacking skills for managing how they express anger. Boys tend to vent or use mildly aggressive methods and girls generally use active resistance. This difference may exist due to how we socialize boys and girls.

Degree of control over situation
Children see themselves and other children on an equal footing in terms of power. Therefore, children often express anger toward peers more directly than they do towards adults. With adults, children express anger more indirectly with strategies such as venting.


Understanding Anger
The ability to interpret and evaluate the emotion.
Four major developmental factors contribute to a young child’s inability to understand and control how they express anger:

1. Brain development a focus on the prefrontal cortex which is the part of the brain that governs the regulation of emotions takes years to develop. The amygdala scans each experience to see if the person is in danger.
2. Memory is the basic cognitive process it improves substantially during early childhood
3. Language is when we talk about emotions and learn to label them
4. Self - Awareness and Self - Control are traits a self aware person has. This type of person tends to see himself separate from others and they generally have a degree of influence over how some things turn out.

To guide children’s expressions of anger
× the adult should create a safe emotional climate to acknowledge and express feelings
× convey a message – you have the right to feel angry – I will help you learn to talk and deal with your feelings – I will tell you clearly that you are not allowed to express anger destructively
× model responsible anger management
× acknowledge feeling
× stay calm
× choose how to express anger
× help children develop self-control – infants and toddlers will not have self control, so do not expect it – be empathetic and recognize when children are ready to assume more responsibility gradually
× teach children to use words to describe angry feelings
× help children expand their vocabulary of feelings (i.e. mad, furious, and upset)
× listen actively when children are having an anger conflict – this tells them you are interested in their problem
× plan discussions about anger – be creative and proactive (i.e. books, stories, thinking puppets, scenarios)
× use appropriate books about anger management (Bibliotherapy – refers to using literature to promote mental health) this can serve the following purposes:
· get information about anger from well chosen books
· make connections between what they hear about anger
· more likely to view their own anger as natural

See checklist for choosing books on anger : Figure 8.5 pg. 217
Teach children how to deal with stress of anger – deep breathing is helpful
Work with parents – see tips on pg. 219
Work with other professionals – teachers are educated to teach, but are not trained therapists pg. 218.

In summary:
It is imperative that early childhood educators understand the development of anger so that they can help children learn to deal with this strong emotion. Early childhood educators, parent educators and family life educators can also use this information to help adults understand and learn more responsible ways of managing anger. Anger can be difficult to deal with and it is important that we take the time to try and understand the how’s and why’s of this emotion to aid children in dealing with it.

The literature on child abuse demonstrates that unresolved anger contributes to abuse of young children.

Text Readings:
Chapter 8
Please read chapter 9 for next week.

Websites:
Parenting Toolbox-info for parents (go to “family anger” for sites related to anger management)
www.parentingtoolbox.com

www.psc.uc.edu (go to “self-help information” and then to “anger management”)

Learning activity:
Complete the chapter review.