Anger Management Program

Anger Management Program

We recently had an Anger Management program conducted in our school. The program was hosted by Ms. Pooja Punjabi, a psychologist.

She started off by asking us the reasons due to which we tend to get angry. Several hands shot up. The replies that she got were:
• Poor performance academically
• When we are hurt by someone
• When we can’t live up to our expectations

She then proceeded to ask what we do when we get angry. This time there were more replies. The most common ones were:
• Hurting the person who has hurt us
• Crying – in the case of most girls
• Blaming others for our anger
• Blaming ourselves for landing in such a situation thereby reducing our self-esteem

Before guiding us on how to handle our anger, she asked us a question. She asked us if we knew ourselves well. She then asked us to list 5 good points in ourselves. No hands shot up this time. She then asked us to list 5 good points in our friends. There were a lot more hands. She said that it shows how well we know ourselves.

She then advised us to sit in front of a mirror and look at ourselves and think of five good qualities. This would help us know and love ourselves and this would help us manage our anger better.

Pooja aunty gave us a few pointers on how to manage our anger:
• Walk out of a situation if it is making you angry
• Distract yourself
• When we get angry our muscles contract. So stretch your muscles by clenching your fist or by stretching your head backwards.
• The age old method of counting 100 backwards.
• Know your importance
• Believe in yourself
• Imagine the person whom you’re angry with, as a clown. Imagine him or her doing something comic and feel your anger melt away.

In the end, she called 4 volunteers to enact a skit on anger management. The skit was about a boy who bullied and teased by his friends and jow he managed his anger using the tips that Poooja aunty gave us. It was fun watching the skit.
The program was very interactive and innovative. The children could relate to the situations that Pooja aunty put forward. It was a learning experience for all of us and we enjoyed it thoroughly.