How To Tell If Your Anger Is Affecting Your Children
Every parent feels overwhelmed from time to time, and those feelings can lead to anger; you’re only human, after all. But there’s a big difference between occasional frustration and constant anger. The latter can have a severe impact on your children’s development – both emotionally and intellectually.
Are you an angry parent?
- Do you lose your temper often – perhaps even every day?
- Do you lose control or engage in destructive behavior when you get mad?
- Is your anger affecting your loved ones’ behavior?
Types of anger:
When a parent has anger-control issues, the atmosphere of the home is pervaded by fear, anxiety, and resentment. Destructive anger can be expressed in two ways:
- Explosively: this is a total loss of control, with shouting and lashing out.
- Implosively: far less visible than explosive anger, implosive anger bubbles under the surface and is often expressed with passive-aggressive behavior and destructive behaviors like alcohol or drug abuse. It can quickly turn into explosive anger.
A parent may say, “Well I never shout, I don’t have an anger problem.” But passive aggressive behavior is as harmful as explosive anger, as it still negatively impacts your children’s lives.
Is your anger affecting your children?
Children of angry parents display the following behaviors and traits:
- High anxiety
- Reduced empathy
- Low self-esteem
- Feel unable to do anything right, unmotivated
- Struggle to make friends
- Bedwetting
- Develop phobias, such as a fear of the dark
- Suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts
- Be aggressive towards and bully peers
- Are more likely to abuse alcohol, drugs and engage in risky behavior
The vicious cycle of anger
Constant exposure to anger affects how children perceive and interact with the world – and the ramifications of the negative behavior they face daily can impact them well into adulthood. Although they might have suffered from an angry parent, there is a good chance that they will repeat the behavior when they become parents unless you break the cycle.
How to break the cycle
If you think you have an anger-control problem, seek the advice and guidance of a professional psychologist. Recognising you have a problem is a crucial step towards healing. Once you learn to identify your triggers and react in a more healthy way, your life and the lives of your loved ones will improve immensely. Take the first step, book an appointment at Psylegal today.
Related Tag: Anger Management Counselling Melbourne
