Is Your Child Aggressively Acting Out?

Does your child’s behavior seem to be getting worse? Maybe at one point their temper tantrums were sporadic, but they are now occurring with greater frequency and aggression. You might be worried that will even hurt themselves or someone else.

Perhaps your child is refusing to go to school, or when they do go, they are kicking and screaming from the second you leave the house to the moment you drop them off. They may be talking back to teachers or starting arguments with their peers. Maybe they are acting aggressively toward children in the classroom, and now other parents are reporting worries about the safety of their own children. It’s possible that your child is gaining a reputation as the “problem child,” which utterly breaks your heart.

If your child’s behavior is spilling into your home life, they may be disrespectful toward you or their siblings. It’s even possible they are regularly breaking or throwing toys, refusing to comply with your requests or throwing fits over what seems like minor issues. Perhaps you don’t know what happened to your sweet baby, and worry that something is truly wrong. More than anything, you might feel helpless and lost.

Are you hoping your child can have a successful day, free from conflict and pain? Do you wish they could manage their frustrations in a healthy, nonviolent way?

Behavioral Issues In Children Are Common

It’s normal for kids to have conflicts with friends and disagreements with siblings. However, when the behavior is ongoing and starts becoming a problem for other people, it may indicate a more serious underlying issue.

According to The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 6 percent of children have significant behavior problems, which display as serious difficulties with concentration, behavior and getting along with other people.

Aggressive behavior in children often stems from a child’s inability to manage their emotions. Without the tools of effective and healthy communication, a frustrated child will resort to acting out. In other words, a tantrum means that your child is trying to tell you something or express intense feelings they don’t understand. This can be brought on by a multitude of stressors—for instance, a loss of a grandparent, a new sibling, a friend moving away, divorce or a new blended family are all potential triggers.

Everyone feels sad and angry from time to time, but if your child is shutting down or hurting other people, they likely need a new set of tools to draw from. Like many children struggling with behavior issues, they may be feeling overwhelmed with emotion and unable to discuss and release those feelings. It’s also possible they feel like they are constantly in trouble, and they will never be “good.” This negative self-talk can lead to a harmful loop.

In truth, deep down, most children don’t want to act out. They just want to be heard. Thankfully, therapy can help your child to work past their frustrations so they can experience a healthy, joyous childhood.

Child Counseling Can Help

For parents with a child going through behavior issues, it can seem as though life is always in a state of crisis. With the help of a child therapist, however, your child can learn the skill set they need to respond appropriately to daily challenges.

In our first session, I will meet with you one-on-one so I can better understand what things you would like to work through. In the second session, I will meet with only your child so I can build a rapport with them and hear the issues from their perspective. By our third session, we will have a plan in place with a set number of sessions, all tailored to address your child’s particular challenges.

Part of my work will be helping you and your child understand behavioral issues at their root. While you may think a troubling behavior is happening “all the time,” it may in fact be occurring after a specific event. Using metrics that you’ll be monitoring at home, we’ll be able to gauge how often a certain behavior is happening and what antecedents are leading up to the behavior. This awareness can allow you to better ward off a future escalation.

Throughout our time together, I will use interactive therapy techniques. Play therapy, for example, can be an extremely effective approach for children. Once your child is engaged in our sessions, we will use a set of dolls who are going through the same scenarios your child is experiencing. Through this sage recreation, your child can examine the situation from an outside perspective and identify healthy ways to act and react.

I have worked as a child therapist for the past 15 years and have met many children who felt as though they would never have friends or success in school. With the help of proven therapeutic techniques and esteem-boosting activities, however, these children were soon getting invited to sleepovers and being included at recess.

I am confident that through therapy, your child can also engage in healthy, happy relationships with friends and family members, ultimately experiencing a more fulfilling childhood.

You may still wonder if child counseling will help…

I can handle my child’s behavior with discipline.

The truth is that your child is not going through a discipline issue. You child isn’t making a rational choice to be “bad”; rather, they are becoming overwhelmed with their emotions. And because they can’t make sense of their emotions, they are lashing out.

Discipline can often make a child feel as though they getting punished, or that a parent does not like them. In fact, discipline can make the situation worse, as children often imitate their parents and will punish their friends in a similar manner. Instead, play therapy and emotional work can help the child to detect what feelings they are experiencing, and from there we can work on responding to those emotions.

This is a family matter, and I don’t want to share this with anyone.

Many parents feel as though they can correct the behavior at home. However, if your child is acting out at school, it’s likely that the school principle, teachers, other students and their parents already know. Let’s face it—keeping it quiet is not a choice if your child’s behavior is present in the classroom.

I am here to tell you that a lot of kids go through this, and counseling has been a proven solution for behavioral issues in children. Together, we can create a family plan that includes a school component—by including your child’s teachers, they may be more compassionate and likely willing to work with your child as well. As a team, we can equip your child with the emotional tools they need to thrive.

Therapy is too expensive.

While there is a financial cost to counseling, I accept most insurance carriers. I also offer a sliding fee scale to help those without insurance coverage.

Beyond that, the emotional cost of not addressing your child’s issues far exceeds the financial cost of therapy. Without a treatment plan, your child’s behavior may continue and begin to interfere with learning and the learning of others. With constant classroom disruptions and outbursts, your child runs the risk or falling behind in their grade or getting placed in an alternative school.

As a child therapist, I know that investing in your child’s future is worth it. I am here to help.

Your Child Can Reconnect With Others And Live A Life Of Joy

If your child is having emotional outbursts or hurting others, I encourage you to call me at 307-214-7592 for a free 20-minute consultation.