Here are some tips on how to help an angry child calm down gently. Plus, 8 tools they can use to calm down anywhere. Grab a printable reminder.
Regulating emotions can be difficult for any child, those with more of a natural inclination to anger can have an especially difficult time. It is our job as parents to find ways to not only help them calm down when becoming upset, but to help them learn to calm down anywhere and in any given situation.
Let’s face it, a large part of parenting is preparing our kids to be on their own in school for a majority of the day.
Tips for Helping an Angry Child
Here are my tips for calming an angry child, followed by some ways you can help your kids calm themselves down ANYWHERE. These tactics will give them not only the skills, but also the confidence, to navigate their anger on their own.
The 5 Tips
1. Be sympathetic.
What seems unimportant for you might be hugely important for them. When your toddler cries because she wanted blue socks and you gave her red, we think to ourselves, “what’s the big deal?”.
It is important to always validate their emotions, not negate them. If they find value and importance in something, it won’t do any good to tell them that their understanding of importance is incorrect.
2. Give space, but don’t isolate.
Children with an inclination toward anger will sometimes have an inclination toward physical aggression. Providing outlets for this such as punching a pillow or squeezing a blanket can help relieve this tension.
A calm down corner provides an appropriate outlet for this aggression. Your child might not like to feel isolated from the family or from you when upset, but a bit of space can be a good thing.
3. Remind them that anger is ok.
Emotions are a normal part of our development, and we experience a range of them every day. It is perfectly fine to get mad, to become angry. Any consequences that you provide for your child while they are upset should always be for behaviors, not for the emotion.
4. Don’t over-react.
Model a calm voice and a calm demeanor. (Yes, easier said than done.) The calmer you are, the better chance you have of your child calming down. Conversely, any yelling or aggression will most likely be matched by your child.
5. Listen with eye contact.
Children need to feel heard, especially when upset. Eye contact dramatically helps them feel that way. Allowing them to talk about how they are feeling will help make leaps and bounds toward calming down.
8 Ways Kids Can Calm Down Anywhere
These are tools that kids an angry child or one having a difficult time regulating emotions can use anywhere. The idea with these tools is that kids don’t need any physical items, so can therefore carry these out in the heat of the moment.
Pro Tip: Practice these when kids are already in a state of calm, before they are upset. This way they can practice these and begin to learn what they feel like. This way, in the heat of the moment, they will have them in their toolbox to fall back on.
The tips include:
- Count to 5
- Take a deep breath.
- Blow into your hands.
- Place hands in pockets.
- Make a fist, then relax.
- Do a body scan.
- Ask for a hug.
Want to print these calming tools? Head here to do that, and keep a copy with you or hang it up on the wall in your calm down corner.
You can also get these calming tools in a handy little book made from just one sheet of folded paper!
Head to this post on the calm down tools mini book to print this for free!
RELATED: WHY SAYING CALM DOWN DOESN’T ACTUALLY WORK (seems like it would contradict this article? it’s all about the language, not what is happening 🙂
This is SO good! I love this post and found it SO incredibly helpful! Pinned & stumbled, thanks. After an extremely challenging day this really helped!
Thank you so much Kristen!!! My little guys has provided me with ample experience… 😉
Thanks for the tips .as for me i have this new enroll child in my class that doen
Nice useful tips for controlling public outbursts.
All of these tips are spot on! I love the listen with eye contact! Oh I am so guilty of not doing this! Thanks for the great reminders! Scheduled to share!
I love this one! This is such a helpful graphic too. I’ll definitely be sharing. It’s so hard to know how to handle when your child is angry.
These are great tips… I think I could use them to calm my self down from time to time too!!
I can’t tell you how helpful this is. Anger is an emotion that I struggle with because frankly, it’s a trigger. I love what you said about giving space, but not isolating. This is brilliant. Thank you.
Thank you! My 2 and half yr old grand daughter has a temper! I’ve been looking for ways to help her calm.
You’re a life saver!
Thanks so much for reading! Glad you found it helpful 🙂
These are wonderful ideas. I love the idea of giving a safe way to channel anger and frustration. This is much more realistic than expecting a child to not feel a certain way. Thanks so much!
Thank you! Yes expecting them not to be mad or react is just unrealistic 🙂 thanks for reading
Great post and infographic! I think that not overreacting is key. A calm parent is more useful than an angry parent. Personally, meditating every morning helps me to stay calm. I think that every parent could benefit (and in turn each child) from meditation.
Hi there, im so exciting read this article! And very useful to me..
I want to save this infographis, I already put my email to subscribe but when I want to download, I must put some pasword 🙁
Is there any other ways for me to save this infographis?
Thank you ^^
If you send me an email, katie@viewsfromastepstool.com I’ll send you the password
Give space, but don’t isolate – that is SO incredibly important. Time-ins work very well with my 2-year-old, and taking the time to talk through those feelings, acknowledging and recognizing the emotion makes a big difference. Thanks for the awesome tips <3
There should be a signup form to get it delivered to your email 🙂 if you don’t see it you can contact me at katie@viewsfromastepstool and I’ll send it to you!
THank you For sharing it was very helpful.