Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

My son reminds me of this man lately. Without going into to much detail here is an example that happened this week: We were just getting home from Target and Mattix offered to carry up one of the bags seeing that my hands were full holding Kalli and some other things. So thoughtful right... so I tell him yes, that would be really helpful thinking to myself that I have the sweetest little boy. We get about halfway up the stairs and he starts "the whine". The bag is all of a sudden too heavy, so I say he is strong like batman and can do it- the next thing I know he is screaming and throwing my Target bag up and down hard against the floor, eventually throwing it on the floor and walking away.... ummm, what just happened.
The reason for this post is that I was reading in "Love Languages for Kids" and it has a whole chapter on Anger. It said many of today's problems and dysfunctional relationships would be diminished had people been taught while they were young how to manage their anger. To feel angry is unavoidable, it is how we handle our anger that is the key.

The book states: " How your child learns to handle anger will largely influence the development of his personal integrity, one of the most important aspects of character. Train your child to manage anger appropriately and he will then be able to develop good character and strong integrity."
We did a whole Family Home Evening on Anger. I checked out a book from the library to read to the kids and we talked about the appropriate ways to handle our anger.

Let's just say after Mattix's tantrum I taught him the wrong way to handle his anger from my example! At least we are aware and will be working on it so we don't see as much Mr. Hyde around the Huffman House.