Anger Management
The Bible speaks about anger a LOT. I tied this lesson into a conflict resolution lesson with some of the elementary classes, though this can be adapted for older students as well.
Part 1: Big vs Small Problems
Intro.
Part 2: Conflict Resolution and Anger Management
Define/ Review:
Part 1: Big vs Small Problems
Intro.
- What is bullying? (get possible definitions)
- Bullying is more than just being mean to someone. Bullying is MOO. Mean, On-going, and On-purpose.
- Do children sometimes tell an adult when they can handle the problem themselves? There are two types of problems- BIG problems and Small problems.
- Big problems are when someone or something might get hurt. You need an adult’s help with big problems. If someone is bullying us, we need to tell an adult. Another BIG problem might be if you notice someone doing something that’s not safe, or even illegal such as stealing.
- Small problems are the problems that we can handle without an adult most of the time. Small problems might be when someone annoys us, or calls us names. If someone is mean to us just one time, it is usually a small problem that we can handle without an adult.
- Let kids pull one scenario from a bag and read it to the class. Ask: is that a BIG or a SMALL problem? How would you handle the problem? Who agrees? (keep going until all students have had a turn.)
- What is the difference between a BIG problem and a SMALL problem?
- Which of these would you tell an adult?
- What do you do if you have a SMALL problem? (preview for next part of lesson)
Part 2: Conflict Resolution and Anger Management
Define/ Review:
- What does “conflict resolution” mean?
- Two types of problems: big and small. BIG problems, we need an adult help. Someone or something getting hurt, stealing, etc. SMALL problems we can solve ourselves WITHOUT getting angry.
- Today we are going to talk about how to solve those “small problems” and how to respond if you get angry.
- Act out each as we go through them.
- Spend extra time on “Talk it Out”- (I statements)
- Spend extra time on “wait and cool off” – go over a few strategies
- Each student draws a scenario, discuss as class. (BIG or SMALL?) What would you do?
- Introduce stop light method (finger on the step you’re on.)
- Red Light: STOP! Ephesians 4:26- be angry and do not sin.
- Yellow Light: Slow down. Count to ten, take a deep breath. Slow and "calm" yourself down.
- Green Light: Go. Choose something from the wheel and DO IT.