When violence comes closer home, what can a parent do? | Parenting News,The Indian Express
With the recent shooting in a Texas school and the instances of brutality on Indian streets, how can parents enhance their child’s emotional quotient?
Anger is a primary emotion, but oftentimes it may be a reaction to a person feeling threatened or frightened. That’s when they become aggressive and express it through anger and violence. Initially, it could be a means of self-preservation. It’s not uncommon for children to feel angry but it settles down over time, especially when they have good role models who can help them become self-aware and regulate their emotions. On the other hand, if aggression is commonly witnessed by children, in a family, amongst peers or in the larger community, those are the ways they learn to give vent to their feelings when they are upset.
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Why this anger?
Firstly, it’s important to understand where such anger comes from, that it can be triggered by our perception of threat or frustration in our current world or could emanate from generations of bottled-up oppression. Quite often it is associated with a lack of emotional awareness, a paucity of language to understand the inner world and its subtler experiences of sensitivity or compassion. Violence can then become a common mode of communication, a way of establishing power and position, which can be dangerous. In its extreme form, aggression and violence can become the norm in a society, where it is not only legitimized but even glorified. Deep rooted patriarchal systems often operate in this fashion, where aggression and intimidation are routinely used to create and maintain hierarchical structures.
Do props play a role?
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