Anger Management - How Do You Keep Your Cool?

Even with the best of intentions and preparation, parents are human and have faults. We all have bad days and our temper, now and again, may rear it's ugly head while disciplining our children.

Whether it is a very public temper tantrum at the mall or asking your child to pick up a mess multiple times at home, your breaking point can come after a day of challenges and deadlines. Showing a range of emotions sets an important example for kids but demonstrating restraint and remaining calm when you may feel like losing it is vital as well.

No parent wants to yell at their grumpy or difficult child after a bad day but it happens and the guilty feelings are guaranteed to follow. Realistically speaking, it is difficult to avoid losing it sometimes but having a few anger-diffusing tricks in your back pocket can help keep the occasional outburst and bad feelings to the bare minimum.

Looking for some tips? Parents.com has a great list of 10 Ways to Stop Yelling at your kids.

In my experience with my own young children, I have found that laughter can work wonders for kids and their frustrated moms and dads.

Enduring a toddler's tantrum in public is a classic buildup for parental anger. The pressure of the child's actions and unbridled emotion are enough to cause parental anxiety but then add on the perceived and actual staring of bystanders. Mom or Dad could break.

Why not take a deep breath and try to diffuse your child's frustration by simply daring them not to smile or laugh at you? Or stop, gasp and say, "Is that a chicken on your head?" It sounds silly, but that is the idea. Even if you feel like you have to pretend to be playful in the moment, you might fall for your own trick and want to smile too.

This works great for young kids but teenagers? That is another story. We need better answers from our fellow Patch parents. 

Madison and Chatham Parents - Help us with some of your tried and true tricks to keep your own anger or frustration in check when dealing with your kids. We all know everyone gets angry and frustrated at times and there is no perfect parent.

How do you remain calm and take this opportunity to teach your kids how to deal with their own feelings of frustration?