Break the Anger Cycle: the best resources for families
I’ll never forget holding my firstborn baby in my arms. Seeing her tiny toes and long fingers, hearing her gentle coos, and smelling her newborn head made my heart burst with gratitude.
I remember staring into her eyes wondering how any parent could ever yell at their kids.
Nine years later and three more kids (+ two pets) added to the family, I now laugh at how naive I was! Let me tell you, I have had my fair share of loosing my temper with the kids.
Our culture creates a lot of euphemisms for anger ::
- Blowing it
- Losing your cool
- Bugging out
- Blowing a fuse
- Losing your head
- Getting a rise out of
- Going bananas
- Pushing your buttons
We try to make anger sound like no big deal because it’s so common. If you’ve ever been the target of someone else’e anger, however, you know that anger is a big deal.
If you struggle with frustration, a short-temper, or anger, you are not alone! We recently kicked off a series on the Faithful Moms blog to help moms address anger in themselves and in their kids. I receive e-mail after e-mail from moms who are struggling to walk free from anger!
Yelling, arguing, and losing tempers is a common occurrence in so many households, and relationships are breaking because of it.
Dads are distancing themselves. Moms are crippled with shame. Kids are crushed. But as bad as things have gotten, we don’t know how to fix things.
Most of us don’t know what to do with the anger that keeps rising up in our hearts and homes. We know that Jesus died to set us free, but we’re struggling to know how to walk in that freedom!
But you can be free!
The best place to start is humbling yourself in prayer and in renewing your mind with the Word of God. But there are also some great resources available to help you understand and address the anger that is building in your home.
Of the many anger resources on the market, I’ve found some are better than others. The resources below are some of the best I’ve found to help you break the cycle of anger in your heart and home.
* It’s important to note that in many cases, Biblical counseling and accountability can be critically important. They will provide outside perspective and will help you identify patterns you can change, while giving you the support you need to continue making progress.
The Best Resources to Help Families with Anger
These are the most helpful resources I’ve found to help families deal with anger ::
- Good and Angry: Exchanging Frustration for Character in You and Your Kids — I’ve found this to be one of the most practical resources for helping parents understand and be proactive about anger and frustration in their homes.
- From Grouchy to Great: Finding Joy in the Journey of Motherhood — This is a devotional style daily journey to finding joy in motherhood. With reflective questions and scripture to study, it is a great resource.
- Triggers: Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses — This devotional-style book helps moms identify and address their anger triggers and learn how to respond in a gentle way. Each of the 31 chapters is short enough for busy moms to read while being practical, convicting, and helpful.
- Addressing Anger Truth Time Journal — The best way to address anger in our own hearts is in light of God’s Word. Meant for a mom’s “quiet time,” this journal gives moms a daily Scripture passage to read, write, and apply. Along with each Scripture passage, each day includes reflection questions and space for prayer.
- Anger: Taming a Powerful Emotion — This resource is helpful if you or another adult in your life is struggling with anger. While it will give insight about anger in general, it is not geared to helping your children. Rather, Dr. Chapman uses his years of pastoring and counseling to help us better understand why we get angry and what we can do about it.
- Give them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus — While this book is not specific to anger, every chapter is a powerful reminder of what it means to live and parent in light of the Gospel.
You can break the angry cycle. You can walk in gentleness and patience and be free from the control of anger.
Praying for you!
Erika // erikadawson.com ⎜faithfulmoms.org
Need some extra encouragement? Click here to join my free “addressing anger” series for moms!