by Paul Lines

Created on: January 25, 2009   Last Updated: September 17, 2009

The life of a single parent is never easy. It is full of pressures and stresses which, unlike with a two parent family environment, will fall squarely on the shoulders of one person, the single parent. It is not surprising therefore that, occasionally, those stresses will need to be released and, all too often, this release will take the form of the single parent venting their anger and frustration. The difficulty is that sometimes the only people that the single parent can vent their anger are the children. Although sometimes one could argue that the children are enough to 'try the patience of a saint,' which clearly us single parents are not, it is never a good idea to unjustly vent our anger in this direction. Therefore, when we feel the pressure and stress begins to build up inside, we should seek other ways of releasing our pent up feelings.

It is human nature to get angry occasionally and it should be accepted as a natural part of our emotional and psychological make-up. What is important to consider is the impact that anger has upon others. In the case of the single parent, this especially applies to the children. We all of us need to find a release for our anger and, when there are no other adults in the home, it is all to easy to take anger out on the children, often despite the fact that they are not responsible for the problems that caused the anger in the first place.

Avoiding taking our anger out on the children is no easy feat. Nevertheless, there are some relatively simple solutions that can be used to avoid this situation developing. For example, there is some merit in the old adage of counting to ten. In this case, the minute we feel the anger rising, turn away from the child and mentally count to the magic number, considering the real reasons for our feelings as we do so. Invariably, by the time the number ten has been reached we will either have returned to a calm state or discovered that the cause of the anger is not really the child's fault.

Venting our anger at an inanimate object away from the children could also provide a release of pent-up feelings. We might use a punch bag in the garage or engage in some other physical exercise of this nature, such as attacking the gardening. In fact any activity that will allow us to let off steam will be beneficial at this point. It will take our mind off the cause of the anger or at least enable it to be put into perspective. Some people just shut themselves away in a small room and have a

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>