Calming Angry Kids by Tricia Goyer

Author:Tricia Goyer [Goyer, Tricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL091000 Religion / Christian Education / Children & Youth
Publisher: David C Cook

When a child learns to evaluate her thoughts in this way, she is better able to change them. Imagine how your child would handle situations differently if she learned to discover the truth behind her negative reactions and respond thoughtfully, not emotionally. All this centers on knowing and believing the truth.

Change It

The next step in the process, to change the thought, reminds me of Philippians 4:8: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse” (THE MESSAGE). It takes a lot of practice, but parents can help angry kids learn to replace negative thoughts with ones that are positive and empowering. The key is to teach them to focus on true thoughts.

I’ve found two tools to be especially useful for helping kids replace their negative thoughts: thought notebooks and thinking cards.

Thought notebooks. One thought at a time, parents can teach kids to replace their negative thoughts and focus on positive thoughts instead. I do this by having our kids create a thought notebook in which they write negative (trigger) thoughts and positive thoughts side by side. I always encourage them to include a Scripture verse next to the positive thought to show that the positive one is rooted in God’s Word.

For example:

NEGATIVE THOUGHTS POSITIVE THOUGHTS

I am stupid.

I am capable. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Eph. 2:10 NLT).

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